Bolsonaro's coup accomplice arrested by ICE in the US

TT

Published 2026-04-13 22.59

          

         Alexandre Ramagem (right) worked as an intelligence chief when Jair Bolsonaro (left) was                         president, but is also a friend of Bolsonaro's family. The picture is from 2024. Photo: Bruna Prado/             AP/TT

Alexandre Ramagem, one of the collaborators in the coup attempt in Brazil after the 2022 presidential election, has been arrested by the immigration police ICE in the US.

53-year-old Ramagem – a former politician, police chief and intelligence chief in Brazil – was sentenced to 16 years in prison in September for his role in ex-President Jair Bolsonaro's attempted coup. In connection with the sentence, he managed to flee the country to the US.

According to a statement from Brazilian police, the arrest a few months later is the result of international police cooperation.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his support for Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence.

In a live broadcast in November with a Brazilian far-right influencer, Ramagem claimed that the Trump administration had approved his presence in the US, writes the British newspaper The Guardian.