Is this one step closer to prison? Brazil’s federal police officially recommended the indictment of Jair Bolsonaro on March 19. The former president is suspected to have ordered the falsification of Covid-19 vaccination certificates in his favor and those of his relatives. Facts that could land the far-right leader up to twelve years in prison.
A voluminous police report, made public, targets sixteen other individuals suspected of entering false information into public health databases. Among the beneficiaries were Jair Bolsonaro, but also his daughter Laura, now 13, as well as Rio de Janeiro’s deputy, Gutemberg Reiss, soldiers and several advisers.
According to investigators, the operation may have been carried out on the orders of Jair Bolsonaro by his former aide-de-camp and loyal right-hand man, Mauro Seid, in late December 2022, a few days before its end. Order, at 1er January 2023. The false documents were then produced by the town hall of Duque de Caxias in the northern suburbs of Rio, whose authorities are linked to the far right. The certificates of the former President and his daughter were issued on the same day and with a very suspicious interval of only ten minutes.
Take refuge before a popular uprising
For Bolsonaro, there was clearly a crisis. Refusing to attend the inauguration of his successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the far-right leader vowed to leave Brazil on December 30, 2022 and head to Florida in the United States. Presentation of a certificate of vaccination against Covid-19 may still be required by American customs, although exceptions exist for individuals holding diplomatic passports, such as former presidents, according to information from the BBC Brazil site.
However, the police go further and draw a link between the “certificates affair” prepared by the ruling clan in late 2022 and alleged coup plans. This lie will enable conspirators. “To have documents necessary to satisfy possible legal requirements (…) to enter and remain abroad while awaiting the conclusion of acts connected with a new coup attempt”, the report explains. In short: to seek safety and refuge in the United States ahead of a possible far-right populist uprising that would overthrow Lula and his government.
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