International
Former Bolsonaro aide testifies in Brazil about vaccination fraud
May 18 |
Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, will testify today at the Federal Police (PF) as part of an investigation into the falsification of anti-Covid-19 vaccine data.
Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), ordered on May 3 the PF to arrest Cid, in addition to conducting a search and seizure at the former president’s house.
The former paratrooper’s home was the subject of one of the search and seizure warrants, and the agents also collected the former president’s cell phone.
“I never said I took the [Covid-19] vaccine. I was never asked for a vaccination card in the United States. There is no manipulation on my part,” said the far-right politician when he left his residence in Brasília, accompanied by his defense lawyers.
On that occasion, 16 search and arrest warrants were served, and six preventive arrest warrants were issued in Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.
“The false insertions, which occurred between November 2021 and December 2022, had as a consequence the alteration of the truth about a legally relevant fact, that is, the immunized status against Covid-19 of the beneficiaries,” said the PF.
Therefore, it added, “such persons were able to issue the respective vaccination certificates and use them to circumvent the sanitary restrictions in force imposed by the public authorities (Brazil and the United States) aimed at preventing the spread of contagious disease”.
The suspicion is that the vaccination records of Bolsonaro, Cid and Laura, the ex-governor’s youngest daughter, were falsified.
Simulated information was entered into the Ministry of Health system between November 2021 and December 2022 to obtain the vaccination certificate and travel to the United States.
Bolsonaro assured the PF, during a testimony on May 16, that he did not know about an alleged scheme that rigged the inoculation data against Covid-19.
In the statement, to which the portal R7 and Record TV had access, the ex-military admitted knowing Ailton Barros Gonçalves, retired Army major and arrested on suspicion of involvement in the deceptive web.
To the PF, Bolsonaro affirmed that “if Mauro Cid devised (fraudulent scheme of vaccination cards) it was in absence, without any knowledge or guidance” of the former head of state.
The law enforcement force also found dialogues between allies of the former Army captain that show an articulation for a coup attempt, with the aim of keeping Bolsonaro in power and arresting De Moraes.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
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Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction