Former Brazilian President Michel Temer downplayed this Tuesday the alleged fraud of the vaccination certificate against Covid-19 of his successor, Jair Bolsonaro, and asked that “pre-sentences” be avoided.
“Frankly, it’s a serious problem, because it’s a [ex-]President of the Republic, but it is a minor problem in relation to everything that can happen,” Temer told Lusa, when asked about the investigation carried out by the Brazilian Police.
“This is the result of an investigation. If you have a hint of a possible crime, you investigate. What cannot be done is precondemn. That there be an investigation and that the former president clarify what he must clarify, ”he defended. the former representative (2016-2018) in New York, on the sidelines of LIDE, a Brazilian investment forum in the United States of America.
Jair Bolsonaro, the target of a police operation for alleged fraud with vaccination certificates against Covid-19, denied that possibility and reiterated that he was not vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
“They have never asked me for a vaccination certificate anywhere and there is no manipulation on my part. I did not get vaccinated, period. I never denied it,” Bolsonaro told reporters last week in front of his residence in Brasilia after the place was the target of raids by the Federal Police.
“I did not get vaccinated and it was my decision,” insisted Bolsonaro, who during his tenure (2019-2022) was one of the world leaders who most denied the seriousness of the pandemic and even maintained permanent and harsh campaigns against vaccination.
The leader of the Brazilian extreme right maintained that his 12-year-old daughter Laura was not vaccinated either and pointed out that only his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, was vaccinated in September 2021 in the United States, when she accompanied him to the meeting. of the United Nations General Assembly.
Bolsonaro said he was surprised by the police operation, in which his cell phone was seized and six of his closest collaborators were arrested, who have accompanied him since he was in government.
According to the Federal Police, it is suspected that the vaccination data of the former president, several of his relatives and advisers would have been manipulated to gain entry to the United States at a time when the authorities of that country demanded vaccination certificates. .
The data would have been manipulated directly in the Ministry of Health systems, through illegal access on two occasions: in November 2021 and December 2022.
In the latter case, it would have been before Bolsonaro – still as president – traveled to the United States on December 30, two days before the inauguration of the current head of state, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom he refused to deliver the presidential banner.
Although, since 2021, all travelers traveling to the United States by air have been required to demonstrate that they have received at least two doses of immunization at least 15 days prior to boarding, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides a list of exceptions. .
Among the citizens covered by the US exceptions are “people on diplomatic trips or foreign government officials”, as would be the case with Bolsonaro. Being under 18, the former president’s daughter, Laura, would also be included in an exception provided by the CDC.
Sources linked to the investigation told Rede Globo that the former head of state wanted a guarantee that he would not be prevented from trying to enter the United States for not being vaccinated, since he was not on an official state trip.
While in government, Bolsonaro denied the seriousness of the pandemic, which has caused more than 700,000 deaths and close to 38 million infections in the country.
The former president had been summoned to testify by the Federal Police last week, after the raids on his residence, but his lawyers managed to postpone it, alleging that they still did not have access to the process.
Bolsonaro responds in a dozen cases before courts of first instance for issues related to alleged abuses of political and economic power, as well as in five cases in the Federal Supreme Court, and in others that are processed in electoral justice.
Source: TSF
