News|Jair BolsonaroKey Bolsonaro ally arrested in Paraguay while trying to flee to El SalvadorEx-Brazilian police chief caught using fake Paraguay passport in attempt to board flight to Panama, sent back to Brazil.
A former Brazilian police chief, Silvinei Vasques, has been detained in Paraguay following his conviction as an accomplice in the attempted coup by Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro. The arrest was confirmed by Paraguay's National Migration…
A former Brazilian police chief, Silvinei Vasques, has been detained in Paraguay following his conviction as an accomplice in the attempted coup by Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro. The arrest was confirmed by Paraguay's National Migration Directorate (DNM).
Vasques was apprehended on Fri, Dec 25, 2025, at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asuncion, Paraguay. He was charged with identity theft after attempting to evade immigration controls by impersonating a Paraguayan citizen. He was attempting to board a flight to Panama, with El Salvador as his declared final destination.
The DNM reported that Vasques clandestinely entered Paraguay to evade justice in Brazil. He was subsequently handed over to Brazilian federal police authorities at the Friendship Bridge border crossing.
A former Brazilian police chief, Silvinei Vasques, has been detained in Paraguay following his conviction as an accomplice in the attempted coup by Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro.
As the former chief of Brazil’s highway police, Vasques was accused of deploying officers to prevent voting in left-leaning areas during the 2022 elections, which Bolsonaro lost to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Vasques was arrested in 2023 and placed under supervision with an electronic ankle monitor. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to more than 24 years under house arrest. He fled Brazil shortly afterward.
Brazilian media reported that Vasques broke his ankle monitor and fled to Paraguay. The Brazilian Supreme Court has ordered his preventive detention as a precautionary measure.
Vasques is not the first official involved in the 2023 coup attempt to flee Brazil. In November, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of former intelligence agency director Alexandre Ramagem, who left for the United States in September. Additionally, former President Bolsonaro was detained after attempting to remove his ankle monitor to evade justice. Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence for his role in the coup attempt and recently underwent surgery for a hernia.
Based on reporting by Al Jazeera.
