Ex-President Bolsonaro targeted by Federal Police operation
Former President Jair Bolsonaro is among the targets of Operation Venire, which investigates forgery in vaccination records. Bolsonaro’s home was the target of one of the search and seizure warrants served by the Federal Police on Wednesday morning (May 3). The agents also collected his cell phone. 
“I never said I took the [COVID-19] vaccine. I was never asked for a vaccination card in the US. There’s no tampering on my part,” said the onetime president as he left his residence in Brasília followed by his defense lawyers.
Sixteen search and seizure warrants and six preventive arrest orders are being served in Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.
When talking to journalists outside his home, Bolsonaro said he chose not to receive the jab after reading its package insert: “I didn’t take the vaccine. It was a personal decision I made after I read the package insert for the Pfizer [vaccine].”
He further stated his daughter Laura Bolsonaro did not take the shot either. On Twitter, former First Lady Michele Bolsonaro commented on the raid.
“The Federal Police came to our house for a search and seizure. We don’t know the reason and our lawyer was not given access to the records. Only my husband’s cell phone was seized. We learned from the press the reason was ‘forging the vaccination cards’ of my husband and our daughter Laura. In my house, I was the only one who was vaccinated.”
Among the six detained is Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp to former President Jair Bolsonaro. The information was confirmed by the defense of the former aide.
Operation Venire
In a note, the Federal Police said they are scrutinizing the material seized during raids and the information disclosed in hearings on the case.
“The false insertions, which date from November 2021 to December 2022, had the effect of altering the truth regarding a legally relevant fact, namely the immunized status against the COVID-19 of the beneficiaries,” the police stated.
“As a result, these people were able to issue the respective vaccination certificates and use them to circumvent sanitary restrictions imposed by public authorities (Brazil and the US),” the statement goes on to read.
The aim of those under investigation is said to be “to uphold their ideological agenda—in this case, to sustain the discourse aimed at undermining the inoculation against COVID-19.”
