The fall of Jair Bolsonaro’s movement, which until recently dominated the Brazilian right, could determine the fate of six of the country’s citizens arrested in Argentina. Brazilian Bolsonaro supporters who were convicted in Brazil for participating in the January 2023 storming of government buildings and fled to Argentina are facing extradition. And they feel doubly betrayed by their leader’s allies — both by Argentine and U.S. presidents Javier Milei and Donald Trump.

The case of Rodrigo de Freitas Moro Ramalho, a 36-year-old app delivery rider from São Paulo, shows how things have shifted. He was detained by Federal Police inside Brazil’s government house on January 8, 2023. He had entered with hundreds of people who stormed state facilities and vandalized them, protesting the newly-inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.

Like many Bolsonaro supporters, he was convicted of trying “to abolish the democratic rule of law and overthrow the legitimately constituted government.” But in early 2024, he broke his ankle monitor and fled to Argentina in search of a safe haven — after all, Javier Milei was an ally of Bolsonaro.

Initially, it seemed like a solid bet. In 2024, 181 Brazilians applied for political asylum in Argentina through the National Refugee Commission (CONARE). They organized protests demanding........

© Buenos Aires Herald