Brazil Summons Argentine Diplomat Over Flávio Bolsonaro's Escape

Brazil's Foreign Ministry summoned Argentina's chargé d'affaires, María Emilia Cortés, on Thursday to request clarification regarding the Argentine government's role in Senator Flávio Bolsonaro's departure from Brazil, though officials avoided framing the meeting as a diplomatic rebuke. The brief, protocol-level conversation was led by Ambassador João Marcelo Galvão de Queiroz and focused solely on gathering information about Argentine authorities' involvement in Flávio's travel to the United States. The Lula administration aims to prevent the episode from escalating into a public dispute with Buenos Aires, particularly amid already strained bilateral relations. Brazil and Argentina currently lack ambassadors in each other's capitals following Brazil's decision in August to downgrade diplomatic ties, a response to Milei's repeated attacks on Lula, including at a PL convention. Lula plans to invite both Milei and Trump to his January 2027 inauguration and will attend the G20 summit in the U.S. in December.