Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for an attempted coup. Six other members of his cabinet were also found guilty and began serving their sentences, except for one. Alexandre Ramagem, Bolsonaro's former spy chief, fled by car to Guyana and boarded a flight to the United States days before the verdict.
He was sentenced to 16 years in prison after Brazil's supreme court concluded he had turned the Brazilian intelligence agency into a clandestine counterintelligence unit to illegally monitor officials seen as opponents of Bolsonaro. Investigators found Ramagem used spy software to track the geolocation of supreme court justices, lawmakers, journalists, and public officials, and he also monitored investigations involving Bolsonaro's sons, including senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Following his conviction, Ramagem lost his position in the federal police and was stripped of his mandate as a congressman in Brazil's lower house.
It's good to know we have a friend who is safe and secure here in the US.
Alexandre Ramagem was arrested by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday. Brazil formally requested his extradition in December, and he appears in the ICE detainee database as 'in custody', with no details about his location. Paulo Figueiredo, a far-right Brazilian businessman and influencer who lives in the US, posted on social media that Ramagem was detained after a police stop in Orlando, initially for a minor traffic violation and then referred to ICE.
Figueiredo wrote that Ramagem has a pending asylum request, filed some time ago and still under review, which allows him to remain legally in the US until a final decision is made. Andrei Rodrigues, the director general of Brazil's federal police, described the arrest as the result of international cooperation between Brazil and the US in combating organised crime. Trump unsuccessfully attempted to influence the trial of his ally Bolsonaro by imposing additional tariffs on Brazil, and many supporters of the far-right Brazilian leader have sought refuge in the US.
The arrest is the result of international cooperation between Brazil and the US in combating organised crime.
During the months he spent as a fugitive in the US, Ramagem appeared in a live stream hosted by a far-right Brazilian influencer, in which he claimed to have the 'approval' of Trump's government. Paulo Figueiredo has also been accused of involvement in the coup attempt but has not yet been tried because Brazilian judicial authorities have been unable to serve him while he has been living in the US for years.