WorldPosted at: Oct 28 2026 6:42PM


Flávio Bolsonaro's whereabouts unknown after Brazil cancels his passports

Brasilia, Oct 28 (UNI) Confusion surrounds the whereabouts of defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro after Brazil cancelled his passports, with Argentine authorities saying he crossed into their country before boarding a private flight to Ecuador that later appeared to be heading to the US.
Sources had told the BBC earlier on Tuesday that Bolsonaro had arrived in the US.
However, Argentine migration authorities subsequently said he had crossed Brazil's land border into Argentina late on Tuesday night, accompanied by his wife and two daughters.
In a post on social media, the authorities said the family had boarded a private aircraft operated by Baires Fly S.A. bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Flight-tracking data analysed by BBC Verify indicated that a twin-engine Gulfstream jet matching the ownership details took off from Puerto Iguazú, near the Brazil-Argentina border, at 03:18 GMT on Wednesday and landed in Guayaquil at 08:47 GMT. The aircraft departed at 09:15 GMT, with its destination listed as Opa-locka Executive Airport near Miami, Florida, and an estimated arrival time of 13:18 GMT. It was not clear whether Bolsonaro and his family were aboard.
A senior US official had confirmed earlier on Tuesday that the State Department would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family and allow them to enter the country if they requested them.
Asked about their whereabouts, US President Donald Trump said: "I heard he was in Argentina."
The uncertainty began after Brazil's Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering. Bolsonaro has not been charged in connection with the allegations and denies wrongdoing.
The court gave the 45-year-old senator 24 hours to hand over the documents. Bolsonaro said he had no intention of leaving Brazil and would remain in the country to lead the opposition to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated him in Sunday's presidential run-off.
After Bolsonaro missed the deadline at around noon local time on Tuesday, Brazilian authorities cancelled his passports.
His lawyers told BBC Brasil they were "completely in the dark" about his whereabouts, adding: "We knew nothing about this, and we still have no information about what happened."
A Brazilian police source said federal officials were checking border crossings to determine whether Bolsonaro had travelled to Argentina. Argentine authorities initially told the BBC they had no record of the senator entering the country.
As a serving senator, Bolsonaro holds official and personal passports. An Italian parliamentary document also suggested he had held Italian citizenship since 2023. However, citizens of Brazil and Argentina can travel between the two countries using a valid national identity card under Mercosur arrangements, meaning a passport was not necessarily required to cross the border.
Bolsonaro has made no public statements since posting a video on social media on Monday afternoon.
He was already under investigation over alleged corruption involving the financing of a film about his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup and remains under house arrest.
A separate inquiry concerns alleged links to a Brazilian lawyer accused of laundering more than $1bn through a fraud scheme. Police said earlier this month they had discovered that Bolsonaro had access to bank accounts belonging to a company owned by the lawyer. The senator denied doing business with him and described the passport confiscation as an attempt to intimidate him.
Brazil's Supreme Court also ordered police on Tuesday to examine Bolsonaro's election campaign over allegations of foreign funding.
Bolsonaro suffered a decisive defeat to Lula in Sunday's run-off, despite having been widely expected to win. Lula secured 51.79% of the vote against Bolsonaro's 48.21%, a margin of about 4.4 million votes.
Opinion polls had placed Bolsonaro narrowly ahead, while his first-round victory on October 4 had strengthened expectations that he would win the run-off.
However, after taking an early lead in the count, he was overtaken by Lula, who became the first presidential candidate in Brazil to overturn a first-round deficit and win the second round.
Bolsonaro has not conceded defeat and has called for the election to be annulled. He argued that extending voting by two hours put him at a disadvantage, describing the decision, ordered by a Supreme Court justice, as a "dirty trick".
The extension had been requested by both Bolsonaro's party and Lula's. Bolsonaro's Liberal Party has accepted the election result, although it said the extension of voting "merits investigation".
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Flávio Bolsonaro's whereabouts unknown after Brazil cancels his passports

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Brasilia, Oct 28 (UNI) Confusion surrounds the whereabouts of defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro after Brazil cancelled his passports, with Argentine authorities saying he crossed into their country before boarding a private flight to Ecuador that later appeared to be heading to the US.

see more..