Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president accused of plotting a coup, made plans to seek political asylum in Argentina last year, Brazil’s federal police said on Wednesday, citing a document seized from his mobile phone.
The police said they had recovered a 33-page draft asylum request from the phone that was addressed to President Javier Milei of Argentina, a fellow right-wing leader. The document said that Mr. Bolsonaro was suffering political persecution in Brazil, that he expected to be illegally imprisoned and that he feared for his life.
The asylum request was not dated, but the police said it was saved on Mr. Bolsonaro’s phone in February 2024, two days after they carried out a sweeping operation that targeted the former president and about two dozen of his political allies. The police confiscated Mr. Bolsonaro’s passport, arrested some of his top aides and searched their homes and offices during that operation.
Days later, Mr. Bolsonaro spent two nights at the Hungarian Embassy in Brazil in an apparent bid for asylum aimed at another right-wing ally, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, reporting by The New York Times revealed. In an interview earlier this year, Mr. Bolsonaro refused to explain why he had slept at the embassy.