On Apr 22, Brazil was fast becoming a new coronavirus flashpoint, but President Jair Bolsonaro and his cabinet barely mentioned the pandemic in a videotaped meeting that has triggered outrage and fuelled a potentially explosive investigation.
President Jair Bolsonaro's government warned on Friday that Brazil's “national security” would be at risk if investigators granted a request to seize the far-right leader's cell phone in an obstruction of justice investigation.
On April 19, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, climbed onto a truck outside army headquarters in Brasília to fire up protesters who were calling for a shutdown of Congress and the Supreme Court. Soon after, according to Folha de S. Paulo, he learned that federal police were investigating allegations that one of his sons, Carlos, runs an online fake-news network that may have inspired the protest.
A Supreme Court judge authorized an investigation of allegations that Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro tried to interfere in the work of the country’s federal police force for political motives, the top court said on its website.
“We're on another path, the path of prosperity, not in the path of despair”, said Brazilian economy minister Paulo Guedes when asked about Argentina's decision to partially abandon Mercosur. It was also an opportunity for president Jair Bolsonaro to openly express support for his the “super” minister, who seemed strongly weakened following the forced resignation of the other “super” minister Sergio Moro.
Sergio Moro, Brazil's justice and security minister resigned on Friday after clashing with President Jair Bolsonaro over the sacking of the federal police chief. Moro, a former anti-corruption judge, hit out at “political interference” in the federal police, saying he could not do his job without “autonomy” for the force.
Brazilian stocks sank as much as 9.6%, and the Real slid to new lows on Friday as political turmoil in the country added to mounting concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, while risk aversion ravaged Latin American markets.
Brazilian Justice Minister Sergio Moro has threatened to resign if President Jair Bolsonaro goes ahead with plans to change the head of the federal police, according to reports in the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo. Moro insists it is the Justice minister that must appoint the Federal Police chief.
The chief of the Brazilian Lower House, Rodrigo Maia has held a round of political talks and contacts to discuss the current course of the government and attitude of president Jair Bolsonaro regarding the current Covid 19 pandemics.
A Brazilian judge indicted six people accused of hacking the phones of prosecutors in the country’s biggest corruption case on Thursday but held off “for now” on accepting cybercrimes charges against U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald.