Bolsonaro abandons Mauro Cid and will claim that the military officer acted in his own self-interest when falsifying vaccination cards.
Bolsonaro's defense intends to argue that his former right-hand man acted in his own self-interest by entering the US without being vaccinated against Covid-19.
247 - Jair Bolsonaro (PL) will definitively abandon Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, his former aide-de-camp and considered right-hand man, who was arrested by the Federal Police (PF) as part of Operation Venire, which is investigating the falsification of Covid-19 vaccination cards for Bolsonaro, his family, and allies. This information comes from a column by journalist [name missing]. Thais OyamaAccording to UOL, Bolsonaro's defense intends to argue that the former president was unaware of the fraud and that the military officer and the security guards arrested by the Federal Police - Sergeant Max Guilherme Machado de Moura and reserve captain Sérgio Rocha Cordeiro - allegedly falsified the documents "for their own benefit."
The argument adopted by Bolsonaro's defense is that Cid and his bodyguards acted in their own self-interest, aiming to enter the United States without having been effectively vaccinated against the coronavirus.
"They are also entitled to an A1 visa, but only when accompanying the delegation of a president, or former president—in this case, he was still president of the Republic when he went to the US. This A1 visa is diplomatic and exempts the holder from the jurisdiction currently in effect. This means that neither of them would need to present a vaccination certificate because they were part of the delegation of former President Jair Bolsonaro," the report highlights.
Cid and his security detail, however, traveled to and from the US on at least two or three different occasions due to changes in their work shifts. Since they were not part of the presidential entourage during this period, they would have had to enter the country as ordinary passengers. The falsification was allegedly done to avoid this situation, as they had not been vaccinated against Covid-19.