Flávio

Flavio Bolsonaro, son of disgraced former Brazilian President Jair, has launched his bid to unseat President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Flavio is vowing to carry forward his father’s legacy and has won right wing support from Argentina’s President Milei.

President Lula accuses Jair Bolsonaro’s son, now a presidential hopeful, of helping triggered proposed US tariffs.

Brazilian presidential hopeful Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, is asking the Trump administration to delay proposed tariffs on Brazilian goods until after October’s election, as he tries to counter allegations from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that his family helped bring them about.

The Trump administration proposed the 25 percent tariffs in June, citing alleged trade violations including illegal deforestation and what it called unfair electronic payment practices, catching Brazil’s government by surprise. Lula had said relations were improving after a White House meeting with Trump in May.

The announcement came shortly after Bolsonaro met senior US officials in Washington, prompting accusations back home that he had invited US pressure on Brazil, with Lula accusing the right-wing senator of lobbying Washington to impose the tariffs.

He has since doubled down on those accusations, saying in a social media post last week, “the origin of all this was motivated by the Bolsonaro family itself” and that Bolsonaro’s request to delay the tariffs until after the election was “yet another act of treason against the Fatherland”.

Bolsonaro rejects the allegation, arguing instead that it’s Lula who would gain a political advantage if the tariffs were imposed.

“New US tariffs on Brazilian products would hand the current Brazilian government precisely the political victory it has been engineering,” Bolsonaro wrote in a submission to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Brazilian officials have spent months trying to persuade Washington not to move ahead with the tariffs. But Bolsonaro says the government hasn’t gone far enough to find common ground with the US and is calling for a 180-day delay before any final decision is made.

“Brazil holds general elections in October 2026, and the political landscape that determines the viability of any negotiated resolution will be redefined within roughly ninety days,” he wrote.

So far, there is little sign his efforts are paying off. In a response to a letter Bolsonaro sent last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US officials still had “substantial differences” with Brazil over the issues they say justify the proposed tariffs.

The dispute has left Brazilians split over who’s telling the truth. A Quaest poll published last month found 47 percent of Brazilians agreed with Lula’s claim that Bolsonaro had encouraged the United States to impose tariffs, while 35 percent agreed with Bolsonaro that he had tried to stop them.

Washington has until July 15 to decide whether to impose the tariffs which, if approved, would still exempt beef, coffee, rare earth minerals and aircraft parts. They would come on top of the tariffs Trump imposed last year over what he described as a “witch hunt” against Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted months later.

Bolsonaro has made Brazil’s relationship with the United States a central part of his campaign, as Trump has taken a more active role in Latin American politics. That has included the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and backing right-wing candidates across the region, including Abelardo De La Espriella, who narrowly won Colombia’s presidential election last month.

June 18 (UPI) — Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, a presidential hopeful and son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, unveiled a public security plan that includes chemical castration for convicted rapists and the construction of maximum-security prisons modeled after those implemented by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

Bolsonaro presented the proposals during an event on Faria Lima Avenue in São Paulo, where he launched “Brasil Sem Medo” (“Brazil Without Fear”), a package of 12 measures he described as “urgent” to combat organized crime if elected president.

“I support chemical castration for those convicted of sexual crimes,” the senator said during the event, according to Brazilian media reports.

Brazilian press reports confirmed that the lawmaker also proposed building five new maximum-security prisons based on the penitentiary model adopted by El Salvador, better known as the “Bukele model,” which has become a reference for conservative sectors across Latin America because of its crackdown on gangs.

“We will build five new maximum-security prisons based on the El Salvador model,” Bolsonaro said, noting that allied politicians have visited that country to gain firsthand knowledge of the security policies promoted by its president.

Other measures presented include lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 16 and to 14 for crimes considered heinous, increasing penalties and classifying criminal organizations as narco-terrorist groups, SBT News reported.

During the event, the senator was accompanied by former judge and Sen. Sergio Moro and Rep. Guilherme Derrite, the former public security secretary of the state of São Paulo.

Bolsonaro also called for support from the financial sector to combat money-laundering networks linked to organized crime.

“I want to ask the entire financial market for unity so that we can suffocate these narco-terrorist organizations,” he said.

Bolsonaro said that, if elected president, he would seek to designate the First Capital Command, known as PCC, Comando Vermelho and militias as narco-terrorist organizations, according to UOL Brasil.

“We will declare PCC, Comando Vermelho and the militias to be narco-terrorist organizations,” he said. “Any criminal armed with a rifle will be taken down by the security forces.”

The proposal comes weeks after the United States designated PCC and Comando Vermelho as international terrorist organizations.

The decision was formalized in early June by the administration of President Donald Trump and was welcomed by Flávio Bolsonaro, who held meetings in Washington before the announcement.

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has opposed adopting a similar classification in Brazil.

The issue comes amid growing tensions between Lula’s government and Bolsonaro allies in the United States.

During a news conference following the Group of Seven summit in France, Lula asked President Donald Trump not to intervene in Brazil’s elections and said the electoral process is exclusively a Brazilian matter.

“I think he knows very little about Brazil. If he knows it through his relationship with the Bolsonaro family, he knows very little about Brazil,” Lula said when asked about recent comments by Trump related to Brazil and the conviction of Eduardo Bolsonaro.

Brazil will hold general elections in October 2026. Lula da Silva remains one of the leading contenders and is tied in opinion polls with Flávio Bolsonaro.

Flavio Cobolli is through to the French Open final after fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi withdrew minutes before their semi-final with a virus.

The good friends were supposed to meet in the last four at 18:00 BST on Friday for a place in a first Grand Slam final.

However, Arnaldi’s withdrawal was announced just 20 minutes before the players were due to step on Court Philippe Chatrier.

It puts world number 14 Cobolli straight through to Sunday’s Roland Garros showpiece, where he will face second seed and title favourite Alexander Zverev.

Arnaldi had spent 19 hours and 42 minutes on court en route to the semi-finals in Paris – the longest anyone has played on their way to the last four of a major since 1991.

Having revealed several superstitions in his on-court interview – thanking the crowd in French, maintaining the same racquet tension no matter the conditions and keeping the same post-match routine – Cobolli was asked about them in his press conference.

“I’m a little bit [superstitious] but not crazy – this week I’m a little bit more crazy than the others,” he said. “I just go to the same restaurant, the same menu, the same shower.”

Cobolli then recalled a moment at a previous French Open when he was using the shower and Nadal knocked on the door asking him to hurry up because he was waiting to use that particular cubicle.

“He told me that it was his shower since 14 years,” continued Cobolli. “So I think the best thing that I’m doing is the shower.”

Cobolli recovered from losing the first set to beat Auger-Aliassime 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 and he will make his top-10 debut on Monday if Jakub Mensik, who faces Alexander Zverev in the other semi-final, fails to win the title in Paris.

Arnaldi’s win in Wednesday’s night session means an Italian finalist is guaranteed, even after the shock second-round exit of overwhelming favourite Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti being ruled out of the tournament because of injury.

Son of former President Jair Bolsonaro is fighting to recover from a scandal that has rocked his presidential campaign.

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has shared a photo that appears to show him meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House, as he seeks to bolster his image amid a scandal that threatens to derail his presidential campaign in Brazil.

Bolsonaro shared a photo on Tuesday of him standing by Trump’s side in the Oval Office, with a caption showing the thumbs-up emoji.

Flavio is the son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing Trump ally who is serving a 27-year prison sentence in connection with a coup attempt after his re-election loss in 2022 to current leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The younger Bolsonaro has replaced his father as the standard-bearer of Brazil’s political right and is seen as the top contender challenging Lula in the South American country’s election in October.

But his campaign has struggled to regain its balance following a report that he sought funds from a disgraced banker convicted of fraud to finance a film about his father. Bolsonaro has acknowledged requesting the money, but denied any impropriety or wrongdoing.

Recent polls suggest that the scandal has set back his campaign, with Lula retaking the lead from the younger Bolsonaro after previous polls had shown them in a close race.

Media reports in recent days stated that Bolsonaro had sought a meeting with Trump, who previously placed tariffs on Brazil in a bid to have the case against the elder Bolsonaro thrown out.

Flavio then travelled to Washington without a guaranteed appointment in the hope of meeting with the US president. Trump has yet to share information about the meeting on his social media website.

While tensions have remained between Trump and Lula, the two leaders have built a more cordial relationship in recent months, with the Brazilian leader visiting his US counterpart at the White House earlier this month.

May 14 (UPI) — Just five months before Brazil’s October elections, the presidential campaign of right-wing Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro has become entangled in what authorities describe as the country’s largest recent banking fraud case.

According to reports published by Intercept Brasil, Bolsonaro negotiated a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal to finance a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, with a banker now jailed on suspicion of leading a criminal organization involved in financial fraud.

The Brazilian news outlet released audio recordings and messages allegedly tied to negotiations between the senator and Daniel Vorcaro, owner of the collapsed Banco Master. Vorcaro is being held in pretrial detention as part of a financial and political scandal that has expanded to include Brazilian politicians and judges.

The scandal erupted after Brazil’s Federal Police intercepted Vorcaro’s phone messages, which reportedly reveal a close relationship between the two men — with Flávio Bolsonaro referring to the banker as “brother.”

In the conversations, Bolsonaro allegedly pressured Vorcaro to release payment for a sponsorship worth 134 million reais, or about $26 million, according to Brazilian outlet G1 Globo. The funds were intended for the Hollywood production of The Dark Horse, a biographical film aimed at improving Jair Bolsonaro’s public image.

In one audio recording, Flávio Bolsonaro discussed the urgency of the payments and the importance of the film project, according to Agência Brasil.

“Even though you gave us the freedom to hold you accountable, I feel uncomfortable having to ask,” the senator said in the recording. “We are at a crucial point in the movie’s production, and because many payments are still pending, everyone is tense, and I worry this could have the opposite effect from what we expected for the film.”

Authorities say the controversy extends beyond the size of the sponsorship and centers on the source of the money. Brazil’s Central Bank liquidated Banco Master after discovering an accounting shortfall estimated at between $7.6 billion and $10 billion.

Investigators allege the bank operated a scheme involving fraudulent securities sales and the theft of pension savings belonging to public-sector workers. Brazilian media reported that while retirees lost savings, members of the banker’s family purchased luxury homes in Miami and private aircraft.

Hours before the audio recordings became public, Flávio Bolsonaro denied having a business relationship with Vorcaro and dismissed the allegations as false during television interviews.

After the recordings surfaced and his voice allegedly could be heard in the conversations, the senator acknowledged contact with the banker, but argued the deal involved legitimate private sponsorship.

Bolsonaro later wrote on X that he was the victim of political persecution and said the leaked chats only showed a lawful business negotiation.

“It was a son seeking private sponsorship for a private film about his father. Zero public money,” the senator wrote, insisting he did not know the banker’s funds allegedly originated from purported fraud.

The market reaction was immediate. After publication of the recordings, the São Paulo stock exchange fell nearly 2% and the Brazilian real weakened against the U.S. dollar, reflecting investor concerns over political instability.

Recent polls show Flávio Bolsonaro statistically tied with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a potential runoff election.

Government allies have launched an offensive to capitalize on the scandal, demanding Bolsonaro’s removal from office through ethics proceedings in the Senate. According to Gazeta do Povo, lawmakers are seeking to suspend his political rights for eight years.

Those aligned with Lula also are pushing to create a congressional investigative committee into Banco Master. The proposed inquiry would seek access to Bolsonaro’s banking and tax records to trace the millions of reais allegedly negotiated in the sponsorship deal.

Left-wing parties argue the movie financing arrangement served as a front for money laundering and illicit enrichment, linking the failed bank’s expansion to political protection networks allegedly built during Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.