MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina confirms Bolsonaro crossed via Iguazú before flying to Miami

The migration agency’s statement does not say who organised the journey or mention any government involvement

Argentina’s government confirmed that Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, defeated in Sunday’s presidential runoff and barred by a court from leaving Brazil, entered Argentina at Puerto Iguazú with his family before flying to the United States on a private plane. Bolsonaro landed on Wednesday morning at Opa-locka Executive Airport in Miami.

“The National Migration Directorate reports that at 22:50 on 27/10, citizens Flavio Nantes Bolsonaro, Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, Carolina Figueira Bolsonaro and Luiza Figueira Bolsonaro entered through the Tancredo Neves International Bridge border crossing in Misiones province,” the agency said in a statement released at 2.01 a.m. on Wednesday. It added that they did so “with valid travel documents and without any legal impediment”. The bridge links Foz do Iguaçu with Puerto Iguazú, and Brazil does not check departures at that crossing, according to the newspaper La Nación.

On Tuesday morning, the migration agency had said it had no record of the senator entering, and presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier denied there had been any asylum request. The crossing took place that night. About 40 minutes later, the family boarded a Gulfstream G400 belonging to Argentine company Baires Fly, which had been waiting at Puerto Iguazú airport since Monday. The plane took off after midnight, made a refuelling stop in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and reached Miami at around 9.20 a.m. on Wednesday, according to Reuters. According to El País, citing the flight manifest, Bolsonaro travelled on his Italian passport, which Judge Alexandre de Moraes had also ordered him to surrender.

The migration agency’s statement does not say who organised the journey or mention any government involvement. Neither the presidency nor Baires Fly immediately responded to press inquiries. Argentine opposition lawmakers had asked the government on Tuesday to clarify whether Bolsonaro used Argentine territory to leave Brazil.

The senator is under investigation at the Supreme Federal Court for alleged money laundering and currency evasion together with a lawyer friend linked to betting companies; both deny wrongdoing. His term ends at the end of the year, when he will lose his parliamentary immunity. The US State Department has said it will grant visas to him and his family.

Javier Milei’s government, which backed Bolsonaro during the campaign, has not congratulated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his re-election. “There will be no statement,” it said.