Brazilian police probe claims Flávio Bolsonaro fled to Argentina after election defeat

Brazil's Federal Police (PF) contacted Argentine authorities on Tuesday to check whether Flávio Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party (PL) candidate and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, has left Brazil through an Argentine airport after losing the presidential runoff. Leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Sunday's vote.

What the media report

PF sources cited by the newspaper Metrópoles said Bolsonaro has not passed through any official Brazilian border checkpoint in recent hours. They stressed, however, that it is possible to cross the border without being checked.

Argentine outlet Infobae reported that Bolsonaro arrived in the Argentine town of Puerto Iguazú at about 2 am on Tuesday using his national identity card, and was preparing to fly on to the United States on a private jet. According to the report, the aircraft was a Gulfstream G400, registration LV-JQW, owned by Baires Fly SA, which requested customs clearance for four passengers and three crew members. The plane left Buenos Aires for Puerto Iguazú at 10:20 pm on Monday.

UOL news website columnist Letícia Casado said Bolsonaro's allies have been trying unsuccessfully to reach him since early Tuesday.

Denials

Rogério Marinho, Bolsonaro's general campaign coordinator, denied that he has left Brazil. Argentina's government has also rejected the claims. Euronews has asked the PF for comment.

Passports and background

Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to hand his passports to the PF. After agreeing with his lawyers to comply, he was due to deliver them on Tuesday morning, but this apparently has not happened. In a Monday video, Bolsonaro said he had been banned from leaving Brazil and served notice to surrender his passports.

On Friday, two days before the runoff, his brother Eduardo argued that Flávio should leave Brazil if he lost. Eduardo has lived in the US since 2025, after the Supreme Federal Court sentenced him to prison for coercion in the case over his father Jair's attempts to overturn the 2022 election results.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday the Brazilian election looked "rigged", offering no evidence. Bolsonaro initially refused to recognise Lula's victory, calling it "impossible" and saying the election should have been annulled, but later said he would "organise the opposition."