Opposition demands answers from Milei over role in Flávio Bolsonaro escape

Opposition lawmakers and political leaders are demanding explanations from President Javier Milei’s government over its possible role in helping Brazilian senator and former presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro leave Argentina for the United States.

The opposition is seeking have Cabinet officials summoned before Congress to provide answers.

Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters entered Argentina late on Tuesday via the border with Misiones Province. About two hours later, they departed from Puerto Iguazú in Argentina's north on a private jet bound for the United States, with a stopover in Ecuador.

“Bolsonaro fled. Milei helped him. We have already submitted a request to summon Cabinet Chief Diego Santilli to account for his actions before Congress,” opposition lawmaker Agustín Rossi, a veteran Peronist, said on X.

Bolsonaro, a 45-year-old right-wing senator, who has yet to official accept his electoral defeat to left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He is facing several ongoing judicial investigations in Brazil.

The courts had barred him from leaving the country and cancelled his passports a day after he lost the run-off, although no arrest warrant had been issued seeking his detention.

In Argentina, the opposition Unión por la Patria bloc demanded that the government explain “why the aircraft was not detained or its departure delayed while the passenger’s legal status was being verified,” given “the implications this case has for bilateral relations."

A statement also questioned why the statement confirming Bolsonaro’s arrival and departure was released only after the plane had taken off. “Who gave the order for that to happen?” the lawmakers asked.

The opposition also called on the government to confirm a report published by newspaper La Nación that presidential adviser Santiago Caputo had been at Puerto Iguazú International Airport in the hours before the flight departed.

Immigration officials announced in the early hours of Wednesday that Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters had entered the country and subsequently travelled to the United States on a private flight with a stopover in Ecuador.

–TIMES/AFP