Brazil has summoned Argentina’s top diplomat to explain the journey of Flavio Bolsonaro, who travelled to Argentina before continuing to the United States after losing Sunday’s presidential election.
Maria Emilia Cortes, Argentina’s charge d’affaires in Brazil, was called to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, according to sources inside the Brazilian Government.
Argentina’s Foreign Minister, Pablo Quirno, denied that Buenos Aires had received a formal request for an explanation over the senator’s departure. The episode threatens to deepen tensions between Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei.
Bolsonaro had been ordered to remain in Brazil and surrender his passports as part of an ongoing legal case. He is being investigated over an alleged money-laundering scheme known as the Banco Master scandal.
Investigators are examining a multimillion-dollar payment allegedly made to Bolsonaro by Daniel Vorcaro, the bank’s former head, to finance a film about his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro. Flavio Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing and has described the case as politically motivated.
The senator stood as the right-wing candidate for his father’s Liberal Party in this year’s election. He reached the run-off but lost to Lula by more than four million votes, with Lula securing 51.8 per cent of the vote and a historic fourth non-consecutive term.
Bolsonaro has refused to concede, although his party has acknowledged Lula’s victory. He has instead made an unsubstantiated allegation of electoral malpractice, citing a Supreme Court decision to extend voting hours on election day.
Both campaigns had requested an extension, but for different reasons. Bolsonaro’s team referred to bad weather affecting voters in some areas, while Lula’s party raised concerns about attempts to restrict public transport.
After travelling with his wife and two daughters through northern Argentina, Bolsonaro boarded a chartered aircraft which passed through Ecuador before reaching the United States. He arrived in Miami on Wednesday and declared himself Brazil’s “legitimate president-elect”.
Bolsonaro later thanked Milei for his assistance without specifying what help had been provided. A spokesperson for the Argentine president described the journey as a rescue and said Bolsonaro had escaped “from the claws of communism, which seeks to imprison all opposition figures”.
US President Donald Trump and Milei have openly supported the Bolsonaro family. Trump has also suggested that Sunday’s election was “rigged”, although he said he would not “take sides” after the result.
The dispute comes after relations between Brazil and Argentina deteriorated further, with both countries recalling their ambassadors in August following a series of public disagreements. Milei has repeatedly criticised Lula since taking office in 2023.
