MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil investigates whether Flávio Bolsonaro left the country via Argentina after his defeat

Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro, who is under investigation by the court, to surrender his ordinary and diplomatic passports within 24 hours and barred him from leaving the country

Brazil’s Federal Police are checking with Argentine authorities whether Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s presidential runoff, left the country across the Argentine border, after he failed to hand over his passports within the deadline set by the Supreme Federal Court. His campaign and the Argentine government deny that he has left Brazil.

Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes on Monday ordered Bolsonaro, who is under investigation by the court, to surrender his ordinary and diplomatic passports within 24 hours and barred him from leaving the country. In a video posted on social media, the senator said Federal Police officers served him notice “in the middle of the street” as he left the Brasília home of his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, and he agreed with his lawyers to hand over the documents on Tuesday morning. The deadline passed without police confirming the handover, and the passports were cancelled, according to the Brazilian press.

Argentine newspaper Infobae reported early on Tuesday that Bolsonaro had entered Argentina at Puerto Iguazú, in the Triple Frontier area, at around 2 a.m. using his national identity card, valid for travel between Mercosur countries, in order to continue to the United States on a private plane. According to the newspaper, it was a Gulfstream G400 owned by Argentine company Baires Fly, which requested immigration clearance for four passengers and three crew. Records on the Flightradar24 platform show the aircraft flew from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazú on Monday night.

Federal Police sources quoted by the newspaper Metrópoles said Bolsonaro had not passed through any official Brazilian border checkpoint, though they acknowledged it is possible to cross the border without being checked. His campaign’s general coordinator, Rogério Marinho, denied he had left the country, and the Argentine government also rejected the report. Since Tuesday morning, his allies had been unable to reach him, according to a columnist for the UOL news portal.

His brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has lived in the United States since 2025 after being convicted by the Supreme Court of coercion in the case over their father’s coup attempt, said on Friday that Flávio should leave the country if he lost. The senator refused to recognise Lula’s victory and later said he would “organise the opposition”. US President Donald Trump said on Monday, without offering evidence, that the election looked “rigged”.