The passport in the breast pocket

On 11 October Eduardo Bolsonaro, former Brazilian federal deputy and son of the former president, posted a rather theatrical video in which he held an Italian passport up to the camera. Three days earlier Supreme Federal Court justice Alexandre de Moraes had ordered his arrest, the cancellation of his travel documents and the enforcement of a sentence of four years and two months. He, who has lived in the United States since 2025, replied more or less like this: go ahead and cancel the Brazilian passport, I have another one, and if you like, ask Italy to cancel this one too.

It is not for us to judge Brazilian justice. What interests us is the gesture, because it says something that is hard to grasp in Italy: in Latin America an Italian passport is a kind of second life. For generations of emigrants' grandchildren it has been the bridge to Europe, the chance to study, work and travel without visas. For part of the elite, over time, it has also become something else, an insurance policy against instability at home, a document kept in the breast pocket for the days when things turn ugly. Back in May 2025, an Italian member of parliament had claimed that Eduardo and his brother held Italian citizenship, without showing any documents; now he is displaying it himself on video.

In Latin America an Italian passport is a kind of second life.

The paradox lies in the timing. Just as the Italian passport was becoming a lifeboat for those who could afford it, Italy was tightening the net. The 2025 reform limited citizenship by descent to those with at least one parent or grandparent born in Italy, and in 2026 the Constitutional Court upheld its framework. The result is that the document remains precious for those who got it in time and becomes out of reach for the great-grandchild of the Venetian farmer who left for Rio Grande do Sul, who may already have gathered every certificate and was only waiting for a consular appointment.

Other countries treat their diaspora as a strategic asset. Ireland, for instance, still allows anyone with a grandparent born on the island to become a citizen, and reaps influence, trade, goodwill and votes in the places that matter. Italy, which probably has one of the largest diasporas in the world, manages it as a matter of counters, queues and backlogged files. The risk is that the passport ends up as a lifeboat for the few and a family memory for the many; and a community that stops feeling Italian is hard to win back with a decree.