Key Bolsonaro ally arrested in Paraguay while trying to flee to El Salvador

According to the country’s immigration agency, a former Brazilian police chief was detained in Paraguay after being found guilty as an accomplice in the far-right ex-President Jair Bolsonaro’s plot to overthrow him.

The Paraguayan National Migration Directorate (DNM) announced in a statement posted on its website that Silvinei Vasques had been detained on Friday at the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

After “attempting to evade immigration controls by impersonating a Paraguayan citizen,” Vasques was detained for “identity theft.”

According to the DNM statement, Vasques was detained as he attempted to board a plane to Panama, declaring El Salvador as his final destination.

According to DNM, the wanted police chief “clandestinely” entered Paraguay “as he evaded justice in his home country.”

Vasques’s arrest and identification were depicted in an image that Paraguayan immigration authorities published on X.

At the Friendship Bridge border crossing, which connects Brazil’s Foz do Iguacu and Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este, Vasques was shown being turned over to Brazilian federal police in a separate video clip posted on the same account.

Silvinei Vasques was expelled from the nation by the National Directorate of Migration (DNM). Silvinei Vasques (50) was recently expelled from the nation and handed over to Brazilian Federal Police at the Friendship Bridge border crossing.

Former Brazilian highway police chief Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is now president and former president of Brazil, was charged with employing officers to obstruct voters in left-leaning regions from casting ballots in the 2022 elections.

In 2023, he was detained and placed under observation while awaiting trial for his electronic ankle monitor. He was placed on house arrest for more than 24 years earlier this month. Soon after, he fled Brazil.

Vasques drove across the border to Paraguay after breaking his ankle monitor, according to Brazilian media.

According to Reuters news agency, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes cited a court document and information from two people with knowledge of the situation as a precautionary measure on Friday.

Vasques’s lawyer, who was reached by Reuters, declined to comment on the client’s evasion attempt.

Vasques is not the first official to attempt to flee Brazil after being found guilty of the coup attempt in 2023. Alexandre Ramagem, a former director of the intelligence agency, left the country in September and has since settled in the US. The Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant in November.

After the former president attempted to remove his court-ordered ankle monitor using a soldering iron in what the court perceived as an escape from justice, Justice Moraes also issued an order that same month for Bolsonaro to be detained.

After being found guilty in September of plotting to stop Lula from taking office, Bolsonaro, 70, is currently serving a 27-year sentence in prison.