Flávio Bolsonaro Crosses into Argentina Hours Before Passport Deadline

Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil for Argentina on Wednesday morning, joining a diplomatic standoff between Brasília and Buenos Aires.

Argentina’s migration authority confirmed that the 45-year-old senator, his wife Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, and their daughters Carolina and Luiza crossed the border at 10:50 p.m. local time. The group entered via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, a main checkpoint connecting Brazil to Argentina’s Misiones province. Authorities stated the family held valid travel documents and faced no legal barriers to entry.

Shortly after clearing immigration at 11:30 p.m., the four boarded a private charter plane operated by Baires Fly S.A. The flight plan filed for the aircraft indicated a destination of Guayaquil, Ecuador. This departure occurred one day after the Trump administration granted the family United States visas.

The exit follows a Supreme Court order served on Monday requiring Bolsonaro to surrender his Brazilian passports. The deadline for this surrender passed at noon on Tuesday. While it remained unclear if he had complied with the initial order, allies noted late Tuesday that he also holds an Italian passport. Bolsonaro revealed in a video that he received the court order outside the home where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who turned 81 on Tuesday, addressed supporters in Brasília regarding the incident. He admitted he lacked precise information on Bolsonaro’s location but confirmed the former senator had departed. Lula described the act of leaving as shameful, noting that Bolsonaro could have stayed to prove the accusations against him were false. The move threatens to strain relations between Lula and Argentine President Javier Milei, who visited Brazil to campaign for Bolsonaro.

United States President Donald Trump expressed approval of the move early Wednesday. Speaking at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Trump called the former candidate and his family fine people. He characterized the election as strange and terrible, emphasizing that he did not endorse the results, even though world leaders and the Organization of American States had congratulated Lula on his reelection victory by a margin of approximately 4.4 million votes.