Published on October 31, 2026
Brazil has summoned the country’s top Argentine diplomat to answer questions about right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro, who fled first to Argentina and then to the United States after losing Sunday’s presidential election.
On Thursday, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry summoned Argentina’s charge d’affaires, Maria Emilia Cortés, government sources told the Reuters news agency.
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The Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pablo Quirno, however, denied on social networks that his government had received an official request for explanations on Tuesday evening concerning Bolsonaro’s decision to flee to Argentina.
The circumstances surrounding Bolsonaro’s departure threaten to further strain relations between recently re-elected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Argentine counterpart, libertarian Javier Milei.
After Sunday’s elections, Bolsonaro was given a deadline to return his passports. Authorities ordered him to stay in the country as part of legal proceedings.
It is part of an ongoing investigation into a money laundering scheme known as the Banco Master scandal.
Investigators are looking into a multimillion-dollar payment Bolsonaro received from former Banco Master director Daniel Vorcaro allegedly to finance a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The younger Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and called the affair politically motivated.
On Friday, in a livestream on Instagram, he claimed to have been a victim of “persecution” in his country.
“I didn’t leave Brazil, I left for Brazil,” Flavio said, alleging that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes made false accusations against him.
He also suggested there had been irregularities in the second round, comparing them to illegal football goals that were not disallowed. He did not provide details on the nature of these irregularities.
A senator since 2019, Bolsonaro presented himself this year as a right-wing presidential candidate for his father’s political movement, the Liberal Party.
But after qualifying for the second round, the senator failed 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, refused to give in, even though the Liberal Party recognized Lula’s victory.
Instead, he made a baseless allegation of election malfeasance, pointing to a Supreme Court decision to extend voting hours on Sunday.
Both candidates’ campaigns had requested extensions, but for different reasons: Bolsonaro’s camp pointed to bad weather that delayed voters in parts of Brazil, while Lula’s party raised concerns about efforts to restrict public transportation on Election Day.
But Bolsonaro argued that the last-minute extension disadvantaged voters in regions considered right-wing strongholds.
Upon his arrival in Miami on Wednesday, he declared himself the “legitimate elected president” of Brazil.
He, his wife and two daughters had traveled from Brazil through northern Argentina, before boarding a chartered plane that had crossed Ecuador to the United States.
US President Donald Trump and Milei, both right-wing leaders, openly support the Bolsonaro family.
The Brazilian senator then thanked Milei for his help, without providing details on the nature of this help. A spokesperson for the Argentine president called the trip lifesaving.
Bolsonaro, the spokesperson said, had escaped “the clutches of communism, which seeks to imprison all opposition figures.”
Trump also suggested that Sunday’s election was “rigged,” although he refused to “take sides” after the results were announced.
The US president has already imposed sanctions and tariffs in response to the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, after the former Brazilian president denied his defeat in the 2022 elections. 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 Argentine leader came to power in 2023. Milei has criticized Lula on several occasions.
The diplomatic row follows an earlier deterioration in relations, with South American countries each recalling their ambassadors in August after a series of public disagreements.
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