The key facts

  • Flávio Bolsonaro, with his wife and two daughters, traveled to Argentina across the Tancredo Neves Bridge and flew to Miami on a Gulfstream G400.
  • CNN Brasil reports the involvement of a former Mossad officer and the internal name 'Operation Dawn'; the agent's role has not been established.
  • The Federal Police found no records of the border crossing and is examining possible logistical support from contacts linked to Milei and Trump.

The escape route: vans, a bridge over Iguaçu, and a jet to Miami

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, left Brazil despite a court ban — the details of the operation were revealed by an investigation by CNN Brasil, cited by the Anadolu agency. On Tuesday, the senator, together with his wife Fernanda and two daughters, crossed the border by land via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, which connects Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil with Puerto Iguazú in Argentina. Surveillance camera footage made it possible to identify two vans and their drivers: one a former municipal councilor of Foz do Iguaçu, the other his son.

A former Mossad agent and 'Operation Dawn'

According to the investigation, the senator was accompanied from Brasília to Argentina by a former officer of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. He arrived in Brazil on October 19 and later rode in the same van as Bolsonaro; what role, if any, he played in organizing the operation, the report did not establish. The operation was internally codenamed 'Operation Dawn' and, according to CNN Brasil, had been planned even before the end of the presidential election campaign. In Puerto Iguazú, the family boarded a private Gulfstream G400 jet belonging to the Argentine charter company Baires Fly: the aircraft refueled in Guayaquil (Ecuador) and arrived early on Wednesday morning at Opa-locka Airport in Miami.

What investigators are checking and what remains unconfirmed

The departure took place after Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the senator to surrender his personal and diplomatic passports and barred him from leaving Brazil. The Federal Police said on Wednesday that it had found no records of Bolsonaro passing through Brazilian border checkpoints when leaving the country. CNN Brasil notes that investigators are examining possible logistical support from contacts linked to the governments of Argentine president Javier Milei and US president Donald Trump, however direct involvement by either government has not been confirmed. The police are investigating the circumstances of the departure and, according to the outlet, may petition the Supreme Court for an order freezing the senator's assets, including bank accounts.