Argentine political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, known for admitting to using bot networks in far-right campaigns across Latin America, told his former partner, lawyer Nadia Beller, that he "would fight" for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) in Brazil's 2026 presidential election. Beller gave the account in a video interview with newspaper Folha de S.Paulo on Tuesday (25th).
Cerimedo, a friend of former congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL), was arrested on August 18 in Bolivia, accused of ordering an assassination attempt against Beller, who is pregnant. He denies involvement in the crime. According to the report, the lawyer was shot outside a hotel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on the night of Monday the 17th, in an ambush involving two men dressed as delivery workers. She underwent surgery, survived and has since been discharged from the hospital.
Asked by Folha about Cerimedo's ties to the Bolsonaro family, Beller said she directly questioned the consultant about whether Flávio had a real chance of winning the presidential race. "He told me it was difficult, but that they would fight. That was the only comment he made to me," she said.
"That's what I understood at the time, that they were going to try. This was right after the candidacy was announced. I asked: 'Does he have any chance?' He answered: 'Hmm, let's fight,'" Beller told Folha, when asked whether she interpreted Cerimedo's words as a promise to help the campaign.
Folha sent three questions to Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign: whether the senator knows or has spoken with Cerimedo, whether he is aware of any conversation between the consultant and Eduardo Bolsonaro about support for this year's presidential bid, and whether he knew that Cerimedo worked for Jair Bolsonaro's 2022 campaign. As of publication, the campaign had not responded.
A history with Bolsonarismo
According to Brazilian outlet Diário do Centro do Mundo, Cerimedo became known in Brazil for leading attacks on the country's electronic voting machines after Jair Bolsonaro's 2022 election loss, when he presented a dossier during a livestream alleging flaws in certain machine models, claims later refuted by Brazil's electoral court. He was indicted by the Federal Police in 2024 on suspicion of criminal organization and attempting a coup, but was left out of the final complaint filed by the Prosecutor General's Office for lack of sufficient evidence that he knowingly took part in the broader scheme.
The case remains under investigation by Bolivian authorities. Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign has not yet publicly responded to questions about his ties to the Argentine consultant.