Brazil summons Argentinian diplomat over Bolsonaro’s flight to US

The move threatens to further strain relations between Brazilian President Lula and his Argentinian counterpart, Milei.

Flavio Bolsonaro steps off a plane after arriving at Opa Locka Executive airport in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday [Ricardo Arduengo/AFP]

Brazil has summoned Argentina’s top diplomat in the country to answer questions about right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro , who fled first to Argentina, then to the United States, after losing Sunday’s presidential election.

On Thursday, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry called in Argentina’s charge d’affaires, Maria Emilia Cortes, sources inside the government told the news agency Reuters.

list 1 of 3 Flavio Bolsonaro lands in Miami after losing Brazil’s presidential election

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Argentina’s Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, however, has denied on social media that his government received a formal request for explanations regarding Bolsonaro’s decision to flee into Argentina late on Tuesday.

The circumstances surrounding Bolsonaro’s departure threaten to further strain relations between Brazil’s recently re-elected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Argentinian counterpart, libertarian Javier Milei.

After Sunday’s election, Bolsonaro was given a deadline to surrender his passports. Officials ordered him to remain in the country as part of an ongoing legal case.

He is part of an ongoing investigation into a money-laundering scheme, known as the Banco Master scandal.

Investigators are probing a multimillion-dollar payment Bolsonaro received from Banco Master’s former head, Daniel Vorcaro, allegedly to finance a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The younger Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and called the case politically motivated.

A senator since 2019, Bolsonaro ran this year as the right-wing presidential candidate for his father’s political movement, the Liberal Party.

But after advancing to the run-off, the senator fell short by more than 4 million votes. Lula won Sunday’s race with 51.8 percent of the vote, securing a historic fourth non-consecutive term.

Bolsonaro, however, has refused to concede, though the Liberal Party has acknowledged Lula’s victory.

Instead, he made an unsubstantiated allegation of electoral malfeasance, pointing to a Supreme Court decision to extend voting hours on Sunday.

Both candidates’ campaigns had requested extensions, though for different reasons: Bolsonaro’s camp pointed to inclement weather delaying voters in parts of Brazil, while Lula’s party raised concerns about efforts to restrict public transport on election day.

But Bolsonaro argued that the last-minute extension had disadvantaged voters in regions considered right-wing strongholds.

After arriving in Miami on Wednesday, he declared himself the “legitimate president-elect” of Brazil.

He, his wife and two daughters had travelled from Brazil through northern Argentina, before boarding a chartered aircraft that passed through Ecuador to reach the US.

US President Donald Trump and Milei, both right-wing leaders, have been openly supportive of the Bolsonaro family.

The Brazilian senator later thanked Milei for his assistance, although he did not provide details about the nature of the help. A spokesperson for the Argentinian president described the journey as a rescue.

Bolsonaro, the spokesperson said, had escaped “from the claws of communism, which seeks to imprison all opposition figures”.

Trump, too, has suggested that Sunday’s election was “rigged”, though he declined to “take sides” after the result was announced.

The US president has previously issued sanctions and tariffs in response to the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, after the former Brazilian president denied his defeat in the 2022 election. He was convicted in 2024 of plotting a coup to prevent Lula from taking power and sentenced to 27 years in prison.

Relations between Lula and Milei have been strained since the Argentinian leader took office in 2023. Milei has repeatedly criticised Lula.

The diplomatic dispute follows an earlier deterioration in relations, with the South American countries each recalling their ambassadors in August after a series of public disagreements.

此举有可能进一步加剧巴西总统卢拉与阿根廷总统米莱之间的紧张关系。

周三，弗拉维奥·博索纳罗抵达佛罗里达州迈阿密的奥帕洛卡行政机场后走下飞机。[Ricardo Arduengo/AFP]

巴西召见了阿根廷驻该国最高外交官，要求其回答有关右翼候选人弗拉维奥·博尔索纳罗的问题。博尔索纳罗在周日的总统选举中落败后，先逃往阿根廷，后又逃往美国。

据路透社报道，政府内部消息人士透露，巴西外交部周四召见了阿根廷临时代办玛丽亚·埃米莉亚·科尔特斯。

列表 1/3：弗拉维奥·博索纳罗在巴西总统选举失利后抵达迈阿密

列表 2/3：巴西总统弗拉维奥·博尔索纳罗在选举失败后下一步会做什么？

列表 3/3：特朗普称不会在巴西大选中“选边站队”，但称其为“耻辱”

然而，阿根廷外交部长巴勃罗·基尔诺在社交媒体上否认，他的政府收到了关于博索纳罗周二晚些时候逃往阿根廷的决定的正式解释请求。

博索纳罗离任的种种情况可能会进一步加剧巴西新近连任的总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦与阿根廷自由主义者哈维尔·米莱之间的关系紧张。

周日大选后，博索纳罗被勒令交出护照。官员们命令他留在墨西哥，作为正在进行的法律诉讼的一部分。

他是正在进行的洗钱计划调查的一部分，该计划被称为 Banco Master 丑闻。

调查人员正在调查博索纳罗从 Banco Master 前负责人丹尼尔·沃卡罗那里收到的数百万美元款项，据称这笔款项用于资助一部关于他父亲、前总统雅伊尔·博索纳罗的电影。

小博索纳罗否认有任何不当行为，并称此案是出于政治动机。

自 2019 年起担任参议员的博索纳罗，今年作为其父所属政治运动——自由党的右翼总统候选人参选。

但进入决选后，这位参议员最终以超过400万张选票的差距落败。卢拉在周日的选举中以51.8%的得票率获胜，史无前例地第四次当选总统（非连续任期）。

然而，博索纳罗拒绝承认败选，尽管自由党已经承认卢拉的胜利。

相反，他毫无根据地指控选举舞弊，并指出最高法院决定延长周日的投票时间。

两位候选人的竞选团队都要求延长投票时间，但原因不同：博索纳罗阵营指出巴西部分地区恶劣天气导致选民投票延误，而卢拉的政党则对选举日限制公共交通的举措表示担忧。

但博索纳罗辩称，最后一刻的延期对被认为是右翼堡垒地区的选民不利。

周三抵达迈阿密后，他宣布自己是巴西的“合法当选总统”。

他和妻子以及两个女儿从巴西出发，途经阿根廷北部，然后搭乘包机经厄瓜多尔抵达美国。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和米莱都是右翼领导人，他们都公开支持博索纳罗家族。

这位巴西参议员后来感谢了米莱的帮助，但他没有透露具体帮助内容。阿根廷总统的一位发言人则将这次行程描述为一次救援行动。

发言人表示，博索纳罗已经“摆脱了共产主义的魔爪，共产主义企图监禁所有反对派人士”。

特朗普也暗示周日的选举“被操纵了”，尽管在结果公布后他拒绝“选边站队”。

此前，美国总统曾因巴西前总统博索纳罗否认在2022年大选中落败而对其提起诉讼，并因此对其实施制裁和关税。博索纳罗于2024年被判犯有策划政变阻止卢拉上台的罪行，并被判处27年监禁。

自卢拉2023年上任以来，他与米莱之间的关系一直很紧张。米莱曾多次批评卢拉。

此前，南美两国关系已经恶化，在8月份一系列公开分歧之后，这两个南美国家分别召回了各自的大使。此次外交争端正是在此背景下发生的。