Brazil: Former President Jair Bolsonaro Spied on Judiciary and Lawmakers, New Police Report Shows

Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro may be in even more legal hot water as he is now accused of using the country's intelligence agency for his personal use, particularly to spy on the judiciary, lawmakers, and journalists while he was still president.

Newly-released court records have sown that Bolsonaro used the intelligence agency to spy on individuals such as Chamber Speaker Arthur Lira, Supreme Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the former governor of Sao Paulo João Dória, and even members of the environmental agency Ibama.

He also had the intelligence agency look into three senators who led a parliamentary inquiry into his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Brazilian president, known as the "Trump of the Tropics," also had the agency spy on well-known journalists Monica Bergamo of Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper and Vera Magalhaes of O Globo newspaper, according to the Associated Press.

"The criminal organization also illegally accessed computers, telephone devices, and telecommunications infrastructure to monitor people and public officials," said police in its statement.

On Thursday, Brazilian police carried out preventive arrest warrants to dismantle a "criminal organization" that allegedly illegally "monitored public authorities and produced fake news using systems" from Brazil's intelligence agency, ABIN.

The arrest warrants were issued to the Secretariat of Social Communication Mateus de Carvalho Sposito, businessman Richards Dyer Pozzer, influencer Rogério Beraldo de Almeida, federal police officer Marcelo Araújo Bormevet, and military officer Giancarlo Gomes Rodrigues.

Jair Bolsonaro Used Intelligence Gathered from Spying Activities to Spread Disinformation

What Bolsonaro did, which is using a government agency to spy on his political opponents, is considered illegal. He also used ABIN as a tool to spread disinformation to hurt the reputations of his political opponents and discredit corruption accusations against himself, his family, and his allies.

According to The Guardian, Brazilian Federal Police have stated that under the watch of Alexandre Ramagem, Bolsonaro's spy chief, they have set up a "criminal organization of high offensive capability" within ABIN.

This was then used to target Bolsonaro opponents, including g Internal Revenue Service officials who were investigating suspicions of corruption involving President Bolsonaro's senator son, Flavio Bolsonaro.

A screenshot from a WhatsApp message sent back in 2020 showed that Ramagem told a colleague that "We need to find dirt" on one of their target Bolsonaro opponent. Another message showed a policeman sending a member of the spy group some information about three environmental protection officials who were "causing trouble for the administration."

The Brazilian Report noted that they also used spyware on their intended targets.

Jair Bolsonaro Spying Targets React to Report

One of those named to be targets of the spying condemned Bolsonaro's actions as "the behaviour of a totalitarian and criminal government, typical of the worst of dictatorships."

Meanwhile, Randolfe Rodrigues, who was the vice-president of a congressional inquiry into the Bolsonaro's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, stated that the former president's actions were "tragic," adding, "While Brazilians were dying, the previous government - instead of using its time to buy vaccines - used its time to persecute and monitor the regime's political adversaries."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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