[ad_1]
The police motion opened a brand new line of inquiry into the actions of the embattled former president, who misplaced his reelection bid to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva final yr and is now the topic of an growing variety of investigations that might finish his political profession and even put him in jail.
Bolsonaro, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has asserted for years that he by no means acquired a coronavirus vaccine. However in December, shortly after he misplaced the election, Brazilian police say, his vaccine standing was falsified to say he had been vaccinated. In late December, he decamped for Florida in the USA, which grants entry to foreigners provided that they’re vaccinated.
In court docket information unsealed Wednesday afternoon, police allege that Bolsonaro was conscious of the fraud dedicated on his behalf. They are saying a change was made to his vaccination standing from contained in the presidential palace.
The previous president denied involvement in any fraud.
“I didn’t get the vaccine,” he informed reporters outdoors his home Wednesday morning. “I used to be by no means requested for a vaccination card [to enter the United States]. There isn’t a fraud on my half. I didn’t take the vaccine, interval.”
Police say Bolsonaro’s advisers entered inaccurate info right into a Ministry of Well being system between November 2021 and December 2022 to acquire falsified vaccine certificates for Bolsonaro, his 12-year-old daughter, Laura, and several other aides and their members of the family.
Police suspect ideology led to the choice to commit fraud moderately than get vaccinated.
“The investigation signifies that the target of the group was to carry collectively in relation to their ideological agenda,” police stated in a press release. “On this case, to maintain the rhetoric relating to their assaults on the coronavirus vaccine.”
The US gives exemptions to its vaccine mandate for noncitizens, together with “individuals on diplomatic or official international authorities journey,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However the Brazilian International Ministry informed The Washington Submit that Bolsonaro, who was nonetheless president on the time of his entry into the USA, was not on official state enterprise when he entered the USA. No diplomatic assembly had been scheduled.
The drama is the newest chapter within the years-long saga of Bolsonaro versus the coronavirus vaccine. From the beginning, he has promoted skepticism round nearly every part in regards to the illness that has killed 700,000 individuals in Brazil — first its lethality, then measures to curb its unfold, and at last the vaccine that well being officers stated was important to overcoming it.
He repeatedly declined to publicize his vaccination standing, calling it a personal well being concern. In late 2021, he stated he wouldn’t get vaccinated: “Let me die. The problem is mine.”
The police inquiry is considered one of a half-dozen felony investigations into the actions of the previous president. He’s additionally being probed for allegedly inspiring a mob to grab crucial federal buildings in Brasília shortly after Lula’s inauguration in hopes of reversing his election loss and for alleging with out proof that the election could be marred with fraud.
Bolsonaro, who returned to Brazil final month, has shortly reentered political life. He addressed hundreds of supporters at an agricultural competition in São Paulo final weekend and is planning a visit to the northeast. He has been reported to be planning to run for the Brazilian Senate in 2026.
[ad_2]
