Brazil Investigates Spy Network Over Bolsonaro Son’s Escape
(MENAFN) Brazilian police are examining whether a network of American, Argentine and Israeli operatives helped Flavio Bolsonaro slip out of the country after his election loss, a major US newspaper reported Saturday, citing an anonymous senior Brazilian official.
According to the official, a former agent of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service was spotted tailing the van that carried Bolsonaro toward the Argentine border.
Bolsonaro, who lost the presidential runoff to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, refused to reveal how he made the journey when interviewed by the newspaper. Asked whether US officials assisted his departure, he said: “I will never speak about the path that I took,” and gave no further answer.
Washington has denied any role. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the speculation, saying the “US government was not involved directly in any of the moves that were made.”
Bolsonaro said he chose the United States as a refuge because he believes Brazil’s democratic institutions have stopped working and that he risked arrest for voicing his political views. “American institutions still work. While in Brazil, they no longer function,” he said.
He also asserted that President Donald Trump shares his view of Brazil’s political situation. “Trump is convinced that Brazil is no longer a full democracy,” he said.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly cast doubt on the integrity of the vote without offering evidence, and he rejected the electoral authorities’ finding that the election was fair. Referring to the president of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, he said: “I guarantee to you that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” adding: “Not me, not you, not anyone who is watching, and not the president of the Superior Electoral Court can say with 100 percent certainty that there wasn’t fraud,”
He said his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was terrified after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered him to hand over his passports in a money-laundering investigation. Recalling their last conversation before he left, Bolsonaro said his father looked at him, eyes filled with tears, and said: “You already know where this is going.”
“I told him that I knew, and that I knew what I had to do,” said Bolsonaro.
The elder Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat and sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Brazilian police hold out little hope of returning his son from the United States. The senior security official put the odds of capturing him at “zero.”
According to the official, a former agent of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service was spotted tailing the van that carried Bolsonaro toward the Argentine border.
Bolsonaro, who lost the presidential runoff to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, refused to reveal how he made the journey when interviewed by the newspaper. Asked whether US officials assisted his departure, he said: “I will never speak about the path that I took,” and gave no further answer.
Washington has denied any role. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the speculation, saying the “US government was not involved directly in any of the moves that were made.”
Bolsonaro said he chose the United States as a refuge because he believes Brazil’s democratic institutions have stopped working and that he risked arrest for voicing his political views. “American institutions still work. While in Brazil, they no longer function,” he said.
He also asserted that President Donald Trump shares his view of Brazil’s political situation. “Trump is convinced that Brazil is no longer a full democracy,” he said.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly cast doubt on the integrity of the vote without offering evidence, and he rejected the electoral authorities’ finding that the election was fair. Referring to the president of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, he said: “I guarantee to you that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” adding: “Not me, not you, not anyone who is watching, and not the president of the Superior Electoral Court can say with 100 percent certainty that there wasn’t fraud,”
He said his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was terrified after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered him to hand over his passports in a money-laundering investigation. Recalling their last conversation before he left, Bolsonaro said his father looked at him, eyes filled with tears, and said: “You already know where this is going.”
“I told him that I knew, and that I knew what I had to do,” said Bolsonaro.
The elder Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat and sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Brazilian police hold out little hope of returning his son from the United States. The senior security official put the odds of capturing him at “zero.”
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