Brasília
Bolsonaro indicted: Former
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was charged this week with faking his Covid-19 immunization. Bolsonaro, a far-right populist in office from 2019 to 2022, is an antivaxxer who initially refused to purchase any Covid vaccines for his country. Prosecutors say that between late 2021 and early 2022, after losing his re-election bid to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro altered a public health database to make it appear that he, his daughter, and several associates had received the Covid shot. They needed proof of vaccination to enter the U.S., where Bolsonaro spent the first few months of Lula’s term. This is Bolsonaro’s first indictment, but he faces a raft of criminal charges for allegedly accepting gifts while in office and plotting to overthrow Lula’s government when thousands of his supporters stormed the Brazilian capital on Jan. 8, 2022.