Follow-Up: Details of Flávio Bolsonaro's Escape Emerge: Four Dark Cars Used as Decoys, Brazil Summons Argentine Chargé d'Affaires
The Wall Street Journal on October 29 published a detailed account of how Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil after losing the presidential runoff and flew to the United States via Argentina. The operation took shape on Monday, October 26, and involved his younger brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, Trump adviser Jason Miller, senior U.S. officials and aides to Argentine President Javier Milei: people close to Bolsonaro, fearing he could be arrested, arranged a charter jet to take him to Florida.
According to the report, on Monday evening Bolsonaro left his home in Brasília in a convoy of four dark vehicles that immediately split in different directions, leaving journalists and authorities unsure which one carried him. By Tuesday afternoon his allies were telling reporters he had already reached Florida, although he was still in Brazil. At about 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday he crossed the Tancredo Neves International Bridge into Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, with his wife and two daughters; Argentine airport security police escorted their vehicle to the immigration checkpoint at Iguazú Falls International Airport. A former Argentine intelligence official said Santiago Caputo, a senior Milei aide, was monitoring the operation and coordinating with Eduardo. A Gulfstream jet operated by charter airline Baires Fly was waiting; it took off at 12:21 a.m. on Wednesday, refuelled in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and landed at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on Wednesday morning, where officers shielded the family from cameras with umbrellas. Bolsonaro reportedly travelled on an Italian passport, having acquired Italian citizenship in 2023.
Trump personally approved the family's admission to the United States on Tuesday, the Journal reported, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to issue them visas; the family entered under humanitarian parole, which allows them to remain for one year.
The diplomatic fallout followed quickly. Brazil's Foreign Ministry summoned Argentina's chargé d'affaires, Maria Emilia Cortes, to the Itamaraty Palace on Thursday, October 29, to demand clarification of the Argentine government's role in Bolsonaro's departure. Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, however, denied on social media that his government had received any formal request for explanations. Bolsonaro lost the October 25 runoff to incumbent President Lula; Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, citing a money-laundering investigation known as the Banco Master scandal and a flight risk, had ordered him to surrender his passports within 24 hours and barred him from leaving the country, and police said the passports had been cancelled. Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing.
Related: Follow-up: Flávio Bolsonaro arrives in Miami, met by brother Eduardo; passports cancelled by Brazil
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：连接巴西 Foz do Iguaçu 与阿根廷 Puerto Iguazú 的 Tancredo Neves 国际大桥，弗拉维奥·博索纳罗一行即经此桥进入阿根廷。照片 CC BY-SA 2.0，作者 Leonora (Ellie) Enking，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Tancredo Neves International Bridge between Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, and Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, where Flávio Bolsonaro's party crossed into Argentina. CC BY-SA 2.0, by Leonora (Ellie) Enking, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-10-29Follow-Up: Details of Flávio Bolsonaro's Escape Emerge: Four Dark Cars Used as Decoys, Brazil Summons Argentine Chargé d'AffairesThis story
