What Role Did Milei Play in Flavio Bolsonaro’s Escape?

Argentine President Javier Milei (L) and Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro (R). X/ @revistaforum


October 28, 2026 Hour: 2:19 pm

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The Argentine president was directly involved in the operation, said a lawyer close to the Bolsonaro clan.

Over the last 12 hours, Argentine and Brazilian media outlets have continued to stir up controversy regarding the role President Javier Milei played in the flight of far-right Brazilian senator Flavio Bolsonaro to the United States—a journey that included a stop in Argentina.

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On Tuesday, outlets reported that Bolsonaro might flee through Argentina. Immigration authorities, however, responded by saying there were no records of Bolsonaro entering the country.

Presidential spokesman Adrian Ravier said only at a news conference that Argentina had received no asylum request from the Brazilian senator. Milei chose to remain silent.

In an interview with channel A24 on Tuesday night, Mexican lawyer Simon Levy, who is close to the Bolsonaro family, claimed that Milei was aware of the efforts to coordinate Bolsonaro’s escape to Miami.

“Thanks to President Milei, Flavio Bolsonaro is alive today. The only person who knew about this was President Milei. He has been and was involved in part of the coordination of this entire operation,” Levy said.

The text reads, “Flavio Bolsonaro fled to the U.S. on a jet belonging to a company that appears in an investigation into money laundering linked to public contracts for the care of people with disabilities in Argentina.

The aircraft belongs to Baires Fly, which is owned by Luis Grande. The company also transported Javier Milei to the U.S. following his 2023 electoral victory. On that trip, Grande himself piloted the plane. Argentine judicial authorities are investigating transfers made by suppliers of the National Disability Agency (ANDIS) to Baires Fly accounts.

Following these payments, invoices were issued for the advance purchase of flight miles. It is suspected that these transactions were used to provide a veneer of legality to funds derived from irregular contracting. Flavio left Brazil despite a court order prohibiting him from exiting the country and requiring him to surrender his passports. Sources: Reuters, elDiarioAR, and Ambito.“

The newspaper La Nacion reported that presidential adviser Santiago Caputo was in Misiones province, which borders Brazil, on Tuesday night, when the aircraft carrying Bolsonaro took off. This would confirm that the Milei administration actively assisted in the operation.

According to Argentina’s National Directorate of Migration, Flavio Bolsonaro, his wife, Fernanda Antunes Figueira, and their two daughters entered the country on Tuesday at 10:50 p.m. local time via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge in Misiones province.

Bolsonaro used his Italian passport, while his family members traveled with their usual identification documents, according to the flight plan. Argentine immigration authorities said no laws had been violated: “We cannot prevent him from entering the country with his European passport.”

Forty minutes later, at 11:30 p.m. local time, the Bolsonaros boarded a private aircraft operated by Baires Fly S.A. at Puerto Iguazu Airport, bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador, from where they traveled to Miami, United States.

So far, neither Milei nor his ministers and aides have made any public statements about the operation that enabled the escape of Bolsonaro, a far-right politician who faces several criminal investigations.

His departure came after Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered him to surrender his passports and barred him from leaving the country as part of money laundering investigations.

All opposition parties to Milei in Argentina’s Congress have demanded explanations about what role the government may have played in the operation.

teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE