Milei government under pressure to explain role in Bolsonaro’s flight to United States

Javier Milei’s government is under growing pressure to explain and clarify its role in facilitating the departure of Brazilian senator and defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro to the United States amid reports that one of the President’s closest advisers helped coordinate the journey.

Opposition lawmakers are demanding answers from senior officials and filing criminal complaints alleging that the president and members of his administration helped facilitate or conceal the journey.

Cabinet Chief Diego Santilli broke the government’s silence on Thursday, defending the authorities’ handling of the case during an event in Rosario.

“He entered through Migration, he had no Interpol restrictions. That is the clear conclusion. He travelled to the United States via Guayaquil,” Santilli said.

“If a citizen enters without any restrictions and leaves without any restrictions, immigration [officials] authorised it because there was no impediment,” he added.

His remarks did not address the central question posed by the opposition and journalists alike: whether senior officials knew about a Brazilian court order barring Bolsonaro from leaving the country, and whether anyone in the administration helped arrange his journey.

Bolsonaro left Brazil after losing Sunday’s presidential election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 

Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had ordered him to surrender his passports and prohibited him from leaving the country as part of an investigation into alleged money-laundering. 

Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing.

In a statement from the United States, the opposition leader thanked Milei for his “courage, sense of justice and respect for the law” following the operation that enabled him to leave Brazil. He also thanked US President Donald Trump and the American people for welcoming him.

The decision to single out Milei appeared to credit Argentina’s head of state with a role in his departure. The statement does not establish that Milei intervened or assisted in the arrangements.

Questions over Caputo

Argentina’s National Migration Directorate confirmed this week that Bolsonaro crossed into the country with his wife, Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, and their two daughters, Carolina and Luiza, at 10.50pm on Tuesday, 27 October, via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge in northern Misiones Province.

All four presented valid travel documents and faced no legal impediment to entering Argentina, the agency said, adding that their movements were recorded without incident.

At 11.30pm, the family boarded a private Gulfstream G400 aircraft operated by Baires Fly SA at Puerto Iguazú airport. The flight plan listed Guayaquil, Ecuador, as its destination.

Flight documents reproduced by local media outlets indicate that Bolsonaro travelled using an Italian passport. 

The passenger manifest for the private flight lists him as an Italian national travelling on an Italian passport, while his wife and two daughters are recorded as travelling on Brazilian documents, according to La Nación. Bolsonaro acquired Italian citizenship in 2023.

More politically sensitive are unconfirmed reports that Santiago Caputo, Milei’s influential adviser who has no official role in the administration, was involved in organising the departure.

Clarín reported that Caputo travelled to Puerto Iguazú and helped coordinate the operation, including contacts with Baires Fly and preparations for the flight. The newspaper said the operation involved Argentine government agencies, including the SIDE state intelligence services, immigration officials and the Airport Security Police (PSA). According to the report, Caputo remained in the area while the flight was prepared and departed by road towards Posadas after the aircraft took off. 

The government has not commented on Caputo’s alleged role. Santilli declined on Thursday to answer a question about whether the adviser had been at Puerto Iguazú airport during Bolsonaro’s arrival and departure.

Caputo, who exercises influence across several areas of the administration, later attacked media coverage of the episode on social media, describing it as one of the biggest journalistic embarrassments in history. 

He did not respond to enquiries about his alleged role.

Fallout

Opposition lawmakers are seeking explanations from Santilli and other senior officials, including Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno. 

Left-wing lawmaker Gabriel Solano, head of the Partido Obrero party, has filed a criminal complaint accusing Milei of concealing or facilitating Bolsonaro’s departure. 

A separate complaint by lawmaker Marcela Pagano seeks requests for information from authorities and for the preservation of records relating to the border crossing and flight.

The episode has also raised questions about Argentina’s relations with Brazil, the region’s largest economy. Milei backed Bolsonaro during the election campaign and has not publicly commented on Lula’s victory.

A US State Department spokesman said Washington would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family, without specifying their category or duration or confirming that political asylum had been granted.

US Ambassador to Argentina Peter Lamelas declined to answer questions from reporters about Bolsonaro’s departure when approached at an event in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.

Some local media outlets have alleged the involvement of the US Embassy in Buenos Aires in Bolsonaro’s departure. US Ambassador to Argentina Peter Lamelas declined to answer questions from reporters about the Brazilian leader’s arrival in Miami when approached at an event on Wednesday.

Flight firm’s ANDIS link

Local media also confirmed that Baires Fly, the company that operated the Gulfstream that carried Bolsonaro, is under investigation in a separate case involving alleged corruption at the ANDIS disability agency, which has since been dissolved.

Investigators are examining transfers the company received and invoices for purported aviation services that may have been used to give the appearance of legitimacy to illicit payments. 

Businessman Sergio Daniel Mastropietro, linked to Baires Fly, has been indicted in the case, in which investigators allege he helped handle and launder funds connected to Miguel Ángel Calvete, a suspected intermediary between the agency and pharmaceutical distributors.