São Paulo, Oct. 30 (EFE).- Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Emilia Cortés, the chargé d’affaires at the Argentine Embassy in Brasília, to demand an explanation regarding the possible involvement of President Javier Milei’s government in the escape of presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro to the United States, which involved a stopover in Argentina.
The meeting took place on Thursday and included Ambassador João Marcelo Galvão de Queiroz, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Mercosur Department. It lasted only a few minutes, diplomatic sources told EFE on Friday.
The conversation was brief, and the administration of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva requested information on the Argentine government’s possible involvement.
Cortés is Argentina’s highest-ranking diplomatic official in Brazil, as the diplomatic relation was downgraded to chargé d’affaires following Milei’s public attacks against Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes during Brazil’s election campaign.
Former presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro fled to the United States on Tuesday via Argentine territory after Judge De Moraes requested that his passports be seized as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering.
The eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) now faces three investigations: another for money laundering and a third for possible irregular campaign financing and foreign interference in his campaign.
According to the newspaper La Nación, the Argentine president’s chief advisor, Santiago Caputo, was in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, to facilitate Bolsonaro’s entry.
Flávio Bolsonaro thanked Milei for his “courage, sense of justice, and respect for the law” in a letter released on Wednesday upon arriving in the United States.
In addition, on Tuesday, Mexican attorney Simón Levy, close to the Bolsonaro family, said in an interview with channel A24 that Milei was involved in and aware of the efforts to coordinate the Brazilian’s departure.
“Thanks to President Milei, Flávio Bolsonaro is alive today,” he said of the Argentine leader, the only one on the continent who did not congratulate Lula on his victory.
Sources consulted by EFE declined to provide further details about this meeting, which took place amid diplomatic tensions between the two nations. EFEamd/mcd
