By Ricardo Brito and Luciana Magalhaes
SAO PAULO, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Brazil canceled Senator Flavio Bolsonaro’s passports on Tuesday, after he failed to comply with a Supreme Court order to turn them in, according to two sources from the federal police, which is trying to locate the former presidential candidate.
Meanwhile, Argentina said it had no record of him entering its territory and the right-wing senator’s aides either declined to say where he was or said they did not know.
Bolsonaro was favored to win Sunday’s presidential election but ended up losing in a shock result to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. On Monday, he was given 24 hours to hand in his passports as part of a money laundering probe in which he denies wrongdoing, but that deadline has now lapsed, the two sources said, leading to his documents being canceled.
The mystery over his whereabouts has raised concerns he could follow the path of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who moved to the United States after refusing to concede losing to Lula in 2022.
He eventually returned to Brazil but was later given a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup. His son has yet to officially concede defeat — saying on Sunday he would seek the annulment of the result over alleged voter irregularities — but his Liberal Party said on Monday it acknowledged Lula’s victory.
Argentina’s government said it had no record of Bolsonaro entering the country. Following media reports about a private plane at Iguazu International Airport on the Argentina-Brazil border, Argentine authorities checked the aircraft and its crew, finding no flight plan listing the Bolsonaro family, the statement added.
A spokesperson for right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei, who has yet to congratulate Lula on his victory, said, “There is no asylum request,” declining to give further details.
Meanwhile, a senior Brazilian Federal Police official said Bolsonaro has not exited the country via any regular migration point. Brazilians only need an ID card, rather than a passport, to enter neighboring Argentina.
Right-wing influencer Paulo Figueiredo, who serves as a sort of unofficial spokesperson for the Bolsonaro family, declined to answer questions about Bolsonaro’s whereabouts.
“After months of intense work that has been unfairly thwarted, I am not in the mood to speak to the press,” he said in a message. “If I have any comments to make on any matter, I will get in touch.”
Eduardo Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro’s younger brother who lives in the United States, said ahead of the vote that an election loss would require a move.
“If my brother does not win, I’m in favor that he would leave the country,” he told podcaster Steven Crowder on October 23.
Another source close to Bolsonaro said they could not reach him.
“I tried to talk to Flavio this morning by phone,” they said. “It rang and it rang, but he didn’t pick up.”
(Reporting by Lucinda Elliot, Additional reporting by Brendan O’Boyle Oliver Griffin; Editing by Gabriel Stargardter and Aurora Ellis)
Comments