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Ex-Brazil President Bolsonaro appears before police in riot probe
Al JazeeraNov 25, 2022
The Facts
Brazilian Federal Police on Wednesday raided the home of former Pres. Jair Bolsonaro as part of a probe into suspected criminal efforts to forge his family's COVID vaccination records to travel to the US. Police seized his phone and the phone's password.
This comes as police served multiple search and arrest warrants in Brasília and Rio de Janeiro, reportedly detaining Bolsonaro's close aide Mauro Cid and personal security officers Max Guilherme and Sérgio Cordeiro, as part of a larger investigation into "false data" allegedly added to a national COVID database from Nov. 2021 to Dec. 2022 to circumvent vaccination rules in Brazil and the US.
The Spin
Left narrative
Bolsonaro presided over one of the worst COVID responses in the world as he claimed vaccines were ineffective. It appears his corrupt ways and spreading of misinformation have finally caught up to him. On top of that, he instigated a January 6-style attack against Brazil's federal government after he lost in a free and fair election. This forgery scandal is one of many that show his character as an amoral demagogue. Hopefully, justice will be served in this and the many other cases he is faced with.
Right narrative
You do not have to be a Bolsonaro supporter to see that Lula is using the judicial system as a means to punish his predecessor. Lula is a leftist career politician who was convicted on corruption charges before they were stunningly reversed by activist judges. Right-leaning figures across the nation are being censored, and checks-and-balances are being curtailed as the legal system is increasingly used as a weapon against opponents. We ought to be skeptical about charges against Bolsonaro in this environment.
