Brazilian Federal Police act as Bolsonaro's 'political police' against Witzel.

The Federal Police (PF), under the control and direct interference of the Bolsonaro government, carried out a search and seizure operation on Tuesday morning (26) at Palácio das Laranjeiras, the official residence of the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel (PSC).

The so-called Operation Placebo adopts the same "modus operandi" as the Lava Jato operation during Sergio Moro's time: spectacular and media-driven actions – which reveals the dangerous instrumentalization of the Federal Police by the Bolsonaro government.

The Federal Police operation seeks evidence of misappropriation of funds in the purchase of equipment and supplies for combating the novel coronavirus in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. This was the legal basis presented by the police force.

Target of the operation, Governor Wilson Witzel declared that the “interference [in the Federal Police] announced by the president is now official.” A former ally of Bolsonaro, Witzel is currently a political enemy of the Bolsonaro clan. The Rio de Janeiro government is being investigated for the purchase of rapid Covid-19 tests and equipment for setting up field hospitals at inflated prices.

This episode reveals the manipulation of the Federal Police, the federal judicial police, to act as a police arm of President Bolsonaro's government, setting a dangerous precedent that reveals the openly authoritarian and neo-fascist nature of Bolsonarism.

The Federal Police in Rio are acting like the DOI-CODI's of the military dictatorship, a political police force to intimidate and repress political opponents of the government. Today it was Witzel, tomorrow it will be left-wing parties, popular movements, the press, and labor unions.

It is necessary to stop the authoritarian escalation of the Bolsonaro government, which is preparing the ground for a self-coup, in collusion with the generals in the presidential palace, with the aim of establishing a Bonapartist-style police state.

Bolsonaro is launching his crusade against "corruption" also to try to escape responsibility for his crimes and the failure of his government's economic and health policies. "Out with Bolsonaro" is the only viable political solution to save Brazil from the ongoing catastrophe.