The Brazilian socialist deputy who plunged into the section on Armed Forces purchases in Brazil’s official transparency portal was looking for something very specific. He typed in sildenafil, the generic name of one of the world’s most famous drugs, Viagra, and discovered that the military had purchased 35,000 tablets of the formula to treat erectile dysfunction, reports France Presse. The revelation caused a certain stir on Monday, but the matter acquired new vigor on Tuesday when his honor, Elias Vaz, revealed that the uniformed men also bought penile prostheses. This Wednesday, President Jair Bolsonaro, a retired army captain, downplayed the matter during a meeting with evangelical leaders, hours before the government decided, six months before the elections, to raise the salary of all officials by 5%. .
Bolsonaro has clarified that the figures are somewhat higher. “There were thirty thousand tablets for the Army, 10,000 for the Navy, and a number that I do not remember for the Aeronautics, but it must add up to a total of 50,000 tablets,” he detailed at his official residence. “With all due respect, that’s nothing,” he said.
The Brazilian president has also made two points. First, it is a small amount “for the troops of the three forces, obviously, much more used by the inactive and pensioners.” The Brazilian Armed Forces add up to 360,000 soldiers, according to the CIA Factbook. And second, “the Armed Forces buy Viagra to combat high blood pressure and also rheumatic diseases.”
The data obtained on the transparency portal by Deputy Vaz on the prostheses was the purchase of 60 units between 10 and 15 centimeters for more than 700,000 dollars. But the Ministry of Defense pointed out that there were three prostheses acquired in bidding processes that met all legal requirements.
Bolsonaro has received important evangelical leaders at his official residence because guaranteeing the support of this group is vital to achieving re-election within six months. The president continues to shorten distances with respect to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has been taking advantage of him for months. In the afternoon, the Government has announced a salary increase of 5% for all federal officials, which will mean cutting other items. Nor is it certain that the increase will calm public employees, who have been mobilized for weeks to demand higher increases because inflation exceeds 10%. Bolsonaro feels persecuted by journalists: “We are criticized every day by a press that has a lot of bad faith and is ignorant about many issues,” he said, reports the Efe news agency.
As for purchases by the military and other Brazilian institutions, this is not the first time they have caused a stir. This time it was for Viagra. Last year, the headlines were for the 15.6 million reais ($3.3 million) that the government spent on condensed milkthe 16 million in bags of chips, the 32 million in pizzas and soft drinks… The data became known, thanks to the transparency laws that Brazil pioneered, in the midst of a pandemic, when the lack of oxygen killed hospitals in Manaus and federal authorities were in no hurry to get vaccines.
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