What we know about the spy scandal affecting Bolsonaro

From revelations to dismissals in the intelligence services, the affair is heating up in Brazil: Police are investigating an alleged illegal spy network that, under former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, would target political opponents.

The Bolsonaro clan was directly targeted this week by a search, on Monday, at the home of one of the sons of the former head of state (2019-2022), criticizing the “persecution” allegedly carried out under their patronage. Successor, leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The first police operation launched in October resulted in the arrest of two officers from the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) for suspected illegal use of the Israeli spyware FirstMile. Acquired by the Brazilian government in late 2018, shortly before Jair Bolsonaro came to power, the software allows the geolocation of individuals through signals emitted by their mobile phones.

On January 25, another operation targeted Alexandre Ramagem, the former head of Ebin and a confidant of the former president. The judicial act that authorized the search targeting Alexandre Ramagem refers to a “criminal group” that may have created a “parallel structure” within Ebin to “illegally monitor people and public authorities”.

On Monday, the Bolsonaro family was hit in turn, with the discovery of the second Carlos among the siblings. The Rio de Janeiro municipal councilor has been designated by investigators as a member of the “political core” who may have illegally requested information from Abin regarding an ongoing investigation targeting Jair Bolsonaro and his staff. In another investigation, Carlos Bolsonaro is suspected of coordinating the “Cabinet of Hate” chaired by his father, a “digital militia” responsible for defaming opponents and spreading disinformation on social networks.

In 2020, Jair Bolsonaro’s former minister, Gustavo Babiano, claimed in a broadcast that the president’s second son had suggested making a “parallel opium”. Gustavo Babiano died of a heart attack shortly afterwards.

According to the Brazilian press, police suspect that hundreds of political figures, magistrates, lawyers and journalists have been illegally spied on. Among them will be Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, condemned by the Bolsonaros for ordering several investigations against the former president and his relatives. He was also the head of the Superior Electoral Tribunal when the High Court disqualified Jair Bolsonaro last June for transmitting false information on electronic ballot boxes. He was the one who signed the judicial orders authorizing the search of Alexandre Ramagame and Carlos Bolsonaro.

“Evidence gathered so far indicates that the criminal organization infiltrated in Abin used illegal methods to carry out covert acts against people described as dissidents,” one of the documents states.

Another Supreme Court judge, Gilmar Mendes, was also allegedly spied on, as was the former president of the Chamber of Deputies and governor who became Lula’s minister.

“They want my head,” the former president said Thursday.

During an interview with CNN Brazil on Monday, Jair Bolsonaro revealed that he had “not received the slightest information about anyone’s location” from Ebin. He calls himself a “victim of persecution” – “nonsense,” Lula replied.

In a press release issued by his lawyers, Carlos Bolsonaro “reiterates that he has no relationship with Abin” and that he has never “solicited or received third-party information” from the agency.

For Lula, the challenge is serious: the confidence he has in the intelligence services. Heads began to roll: On Tuesday, Alessandro Moretti, Ebin’s No. 2, was targeted by the investigation, as were four other officials fired. The agency’s No. 3, Paulo Mauricio Fortunato, had already been ousted, after being targeted by a police operation in October.

In addition, fears of illegal spying “discredit the practices of the Bolsonaro government,” said Paulo Baia, a political scientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, interviewed by AFP. However, will this scandal weaken the former president’s camp? The municipal elections in October will provide some answers.