Bolsonaro planned to seek asylum in Argentina in 2024, Brazilian police say

Jair Bolsonaro drafted a request for political asylum to Argentina’s president Javier Milei in February 2024, Brazilian police have alleged, in a case that threatens to deepen the former leader’s legal troubles. 

A 33-page document, found on Bolsonaro’s mobile phone, was dated just days after the Federal Police opened a coup-plotting investigation that month.

In the draft, Bolsonaro claimed he was the victim of “political persecution in Brazil,” according to the police report released on Wednesday. 

Investigators said the text demonstrated “a proven risk of flight by the accused,” a finding echoed in a Supreme Court resolution signed by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who gave the far-right politician’s defence team 48 hours to respond.

Brazil’s Supreme Court is due to rule between September 2 and 12 on Bolsonaro’s guilt or innocence in a separate trial over his alleged attempt to stage a coup in 2022, aimed at blocking the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.

The police also recommended charges against Bolsonaro’s son, congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, accusing him of “coercion” against the Kudiciary. 

Eduardo has been lobbying in the United States for months, urging US President Donald Trump’s administration to intervene on his father’s behalf. 

Trump has slapped punitive tariffs on Brazil in response, denouncing what he calls a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro, and has imposed sanctions on Moraes and other judges.

Police have concluded that Jair and Eduardo Bolsonaro engaged in “acts aimed at interfering in the course of the criminal proceedings” into coup plotting. They recommended both men be charged with “coercion of judicial process” and “violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.” 

The recommendation also extended to evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia and Paulo Figueiredo, grandson of Brazil’s last military dictator João Figueiredo (1979–1985), both close allies of Bolsonaro.

The proposed asylum request to Buenos Aires placed Milei, a libertarian ally, at the centre of Bolsonaro’s contingency plans. The La Libertad Avanza leader has openly admired his peer’s leadership, frequently citing him as an inspiration, and both have shared platforms at international right-wing events. 

Since taking office in December 2023, Milei has sought to raise his profile as an international figure on the populist right. His alignment with Bolsonaro and his embrace of Trump’s orbit form part of a broader strategy of positioning Argentina within a global libertarian and conservative network.

Bolsonaro has been held under preventative house arrest since early August, after Moraes ruled that he violated restrictions barring him from making social media statements. 

The ex-president insists he is innocent and describes himself as a “persecuted man.”

– TIMES/AFP