Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government summoned Argentina’s representative in the country after Flávio Bolsonaro fled to the US via Argentina , marking the latest episode in tense relations between South America’s two powerhouses.
Brazil’s foreign ministry asked for explanations on Thursday afternoon after the defeated presidential candidate passed through Argentina on his way to Miami , according to a diplomatic source who requested anonymity as they were not allowed to discuss the matter publicly.
In Bolsonaro’s first comments since fleeing Brazil, he thanked both Milei and Trump.
Brazil’s top diplomat João Marcelo, the director of the ministry’s South America department, summoned Argentina’s chargé d’affaires María Emilia Cortés for a brief meeting, the source said. US President Donald Trump has called Brazil’s election “rigged” and “very strange,” but shied away from calling Bolsonaro president-elect. Instead, Trump said he has given Bolsonaro a “pass” to come into the country. “I won’t get involved,” said Trump, whose administration approved US visas for Bolsonaro and his family this week. “I want to thank President Milei, for the courage, sense of justice and legality, and Trump and the marvelous American people for welcoming me,” he said.
Argentine President Javier Milei backed Bolsonaro in the presidential election won by Lula on Sunday and is yet to acknowledge the leftist’s win, differentiating himself from other Trump allies in the region who quickly congratulated the incumbent.
Milei has not commented on Bolsonaro’s journey, but presidential spokesperson Juan Pablo Carreira said on social media that the administration rescued Bolsonaro “from the claws of communism, which seeks to imprison all opposition figures.”
