Brazilian Police Arrest Jair Bolsonaro on Charges of Being a Flight Risk

On orders from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, Brazil’s federal police placed former President Jair Bolsonaro in preventive detention in the early morning hours of Nov. 22, after he used a soldering tool to damage the electronic ankle monitor he has been wearing while under house arrest in Brasilia. He was arrested because he was deemed a flight risk, and there was suspicion that he might attempt to escape to the U.S. Embassy, a short distance from his home, facilitated by the noise and “confusion” caused by a rally in his defense, organized by his son Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro in front of his house for later in the day. Although Bolsonaro has been convicted and sentenced to 27 years in jail for having plotted a coup against and the assassination of President Lula da Silva in late 2022 and early 2023, he has remained under house arrest, but was expected to begin serving his jail term soon.