According to media reports, the Brazilian police searched the house of former President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasília because of possibly fake vaccination cards. The officials confiscated a mobile phone from the 68-year-old, as reported by TV Globo. In addition, Bolsonaro’s former adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid Barbosa, was arrested. The ex-president himself is to be questioned by the police.
The investigations were directed against a criminal organization that is said to have fed false data into the system of the Ministry of Health, the federal police said. It was thus possible to issue vaccination certificates for people who were actually not vaccinated and to avoid travel restrictions in Brazil or the United States, for example. 16 search warrants and six arrest warrants were issued.
According to TV Globo, among other things, the vaccination data of Bolsonaro, his daughter Laura and his ex-adjutant Cid are said to have been falsified. The right-wing ex-president had repeatedly questioned the danger of the corona virus and the effectiveness of vaccinations during the pandemic.
The supposedly fake IDs were supposed to help with entry into the United States. Shortly before his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office on New Year’s Day, Bolsonaro traveled to the USA and only returned to his home country at the end of March.
Bolsonaro denied falsifying his vaccination card. “I was never asked for a vaccination certificate anywhere, there is no manipulation on my part. I’m not vaccinated, period, I’ve never denied that,” Bolsonaro told TV Globo after the search. He had not been vaccinated, and neither had his 12-year-old daughter Laura.
2023-05-03 14:56:42
#Brazil #House #search #Bolsonaro #fake #vaccination #cards
