Rio de Janeiro – According to officials, Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, planned with others to falsify a vaccination card just before traveling to the United States in late 2022. On Tuesday morning, investigators in Brazil proposed that Bolsonaro face charges of fraud and criminal conspiracy.
False information was inserted into a Health Ministry ledger to issue fictitious vaccination certificates for Bolsonaro and his daughter, Laura, days before Bolsonaro departed the presidential palace in 2022, after being beaten by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an election that was historically acrimonious, according to authorities.
The cards were printed using an IP address from the presidential palace and stated that Bolsonaro, who had promised never to receive the coronavirus vaccine and had spent years condemning it, had received a Covid-19 vaccination.
In a few days, Bolsonaro relocated to Florida. Unvaccinated foreign nationals were being denied admission into the United States at the time.
Bolsonaro’s involvement in the criminal procedure is facilitated by the police recommendation. He faces a term of years in prison if found guilty.
Bolsonaro’s extreme right policies, science denial, and four years of divisive language have caused divisiveness in Brazil, which the accusations are sure to exacerbate.
The 68-year-old Bolsonaro, who has been the subject of multiple political and criminal probes since leaving office, is further supported legally by these developments.
He was barred from running for office in Brazil for at least eight years, which includes the 2026 presidential race, by the country’s highest electoral court last year for making statements regarding the country’s voting systems’ integrity that the judges claimed he knew to be untrue. A federal investigation was launched last month to determine whether his government was preparing a military takeover of the nation.
Bolsonaro, who has denied fabricating his vaccination record, has not yet responded to the accusations made on Tuesday. On the social media site X, his attorney, Fabio Wajngarten, stood up for him. “Political persecution,” he claimed, and referred to the police case as “absurd.” However, Wajngarten chose not to openly address the accusations.
“He was completely prohibited from presenting any type of certification on his trips while he was president,” the lawyer said. “It’s about trying to drain their massive, ever-growing political capital and political persecution.”
During Bolsonaro’s visit, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that the US has waived its vaccination mandate for “individuals on diplomatic or official travel by foreign governments.”
Although Bolsonaro was still president when he entered the country, the Foreign Ministry of Brazil, which is currently led by Lula, informed The Washington Post in May that the visit was not related to official state business. There were no scheduled diplomatic meetings.
Police said that Bolsonaro had a direct hand in the scam in an investigation report that The Post was able to access. According to the article, Bolsonaro gave the order to fake the vaccination records of both him and his daughter, according to top adviser Mauro Cid, who authorities are also pursuing charges against.
The investigation states that Cid admitted to investigators that he gave Bolsonaro the updated vaccination cards while they were inside the presidential palace.
The paper says, “With this, these people were able to issue their respective certificates and then use them to undermine restrictions related to health.”