Former Brazilian Tourism Minister Gilson Machado was arrested this Friday, accused of trying to obtain a Portuguese passport to facilitate the escape of Mauro Cid, a former aide to then-President Jair Bolsonaro.
On the 10th, the Brazilian Attorney General's Office (PGR) had sent a request to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) asking for measures against Machado, after finding evidence that he attempted to issue a Portuguese passport in May 2025 for Cid, who is a whistleblower in a case about an attempted coup during Bolsonaro's presidency, to leave Brazil.
Cid's lawyers stated that Bolsonaro's former aide was targeted in searches and will testify to the Federal Police this Friday. Cid agreed to cooperate with the Justice in exchange for a reduced sentence in the cases where he and Bolsonaro are defendants.
According to local media, the Brazilian police gathered evidence that Machado sought the Portuguese Consulate in Recife, where he lives, to obtain Cid's passport, but without success. In January 2023, before being arrested and charged in several criminal cases, Cid had indicated seeking advisory services to obtain Portuguese citizenship.
In the arrest request that was accepted, the Brazilian PGR considered that the information gathered by the police pointed to "suggestive elements" of an action by Machado to obstruct the instruction of the process in which Bolsonaro, Cid, and dozens of other former allies, military and civilians, are defendants.
The Brazilian PGR assessed that the passport would be used to enable Cid's escape from Brazil to "evade the application of criminal law, considering the proximity of the closure of the procedural instruction."
Earlier this week, Bolsonaro, Cid, and six defendants were interrogated by the First Panel of the Supreme Federal Court, accused of armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d'état, qualified damage by violence and serious threat, and deterioration of property. If convicted, they face prison sentences of over 40 years.
According to the Brazilian Public Ministry, the alleged coup plan would have started after the victory of the current President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the October 2022 elections. Bolsonaro, who was seeking re-election, did not accept the defeat at the polls. According to the accusation, a coup plan was then drawn up to prevent Lula da Silva from taking office, which culminated in the invasion of the headquarters of the three powers on January 8, 2023.
In the 2022 presidential elections, Lula da Silva defeated Bolsonaro, who refused to recognize the defeat, discredited the system and the electoral process (which led to his ban from running for public office for eight years), and encouraged supporters to set up camps in front of military bases to protest against the presidential results and demand military intervention.
On January 8, 2023, while the new Brazilian President, Lula da Silva, was outside Brasília visiting the city of Araraquara, in the state of São Paulo, hit by severe rains, a group of radicals, supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, influenced by months of misinformation about electronic voting machines and fear of communism, invaded and attacked the Planalto Palace, the Congress, and the Supreme Federal Court.
Judicial sources stated that the intention is for the trial to be concluded this year.
Comments
Join Our Community
Sign up to share your thoughts, engage with others, and become part of our growing community.
No comments yet
Be the first to share your thoughts and start the conversation!