BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina has ordered the arrest of 61 Brazilian citizens wanted in their home country for participating in the 2023 storming of government buildings in Brasilia by supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, an Argentine source said on Saturday.
Two people have been arrested so far who face prison sentences in Brazil, a judicial source in Argentina told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.
Argentina received an extradition request from Brazil’s judicial authorities last month.
During the Jan. 8, 2023 incident, a week after leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office, several thousand Bolsonaro supporters invaded and ransacked the Congress building, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court.
Some rioters fled to Argentina, hoping to find refuge under the government of right-wing President Javier Milei.
Federal police officials in Brazil said in June they believed between 50 and 100 Bolsonaro supporters charged with vandalism and insurrection had entered Argentina to avoid legal consequences. Many had convictions from the Brazil Supreme Court carrying heavy sentences.
Bolsonaro’s former vice president, Senator Hamilton Mourao, said at the time that those who fled to Argentina did not believe they would get a fair trial in Brazil.
The Brasilia riots resembled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-former President Donald Trump, who since has been elected to a second term.
Brazilian authorities arrested some 3,000 people after the riots, and about half are still in jail.
Political violence flared up again last week after an attempted bomb attack on the Brazil Supreme Court, in a reminder of the ransacking of the building by Bolsonaro supporters last year.
The incident has hardened consensus in Congress against a proposal to offer amnesty to participants in the 2023 attacks.
(Reporting by Nicolas Misculin in Buenos Aires, Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; editing by Diane Craft)