Outside the Beltway

Bolsonaro Arrested Again

This time for allegedly trying to escape.

Steven L. Taylor · Sunday, November 23, 2025 · 3 comments

The AP reports on some drama surrounding former president, and now convicted felon, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s ex-president Bolsonaro arrested over alleged plot to escape and avoid 27-year prison term.

Brazil’s federal police on Saturday arrested former president Jair Bolsonaro over suspicion he was plotting to escape and avoid starting a 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt.

[…]

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the case on Bolsonaro’s attempt to keep the presidency after his defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022, ordered the preemptive arrest after saying the far-right leader’s ankle monitor was violated at 12:08 a.m. on Saturday.

[…]

A report by custody agents released later in the day — and reviewed by The Associated Press — said Bolsonaro admitted using a soldering iron to try to open the device. In a court video also seen by the AP, Bolsonaro is heard admitting such attempt. The footage shows the ankle monitor’s cap heavily damaged.

The theory as to where he was going to go?

The judge said there was a chance of Bolsonaro fleeing to the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia. The Supreme Court justice also mentioned other defendants in the coup case and political allies of the former president leaving Brazil to avoid jail.

“He is located about 13 kilometers (8 miles) away from where the United States of America embassy lies, in a distance that can be covered in a 15-minute drive,” said de Moraes, who has been sanctioned by the Trump administration.

I liked it better back when freedom fighters, pro-democracy advocates, or at the very least the truly persecuted were the kinds of people who sought asylum at US embassies.