• Brazil: Brazilian police find links between the murderer of Marielle Franco and the Bolsonaro family
  • The Correspondent's Look: The natural paradise that Jair Bolsonaro wants to turn into a "Brazilian Cancun"
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The name of President Jair Bolsonaro appears in the investigation into the murder of the councilwoman of Rio Marielle Franco, a prominent defender of human rights and minorities shot dead in Rio de Janeiro in March 2018.

According to a leak from TV Globo, one of the alleged murderers, the former military police officer, Elcio Queiroz, entered the urbanization of Rio de Janeiro where the president has a residence, claiming he was going to visit the then deputy. The doorman of the enclosure called the house number 58, and according to the version he gave to the police, someone who identified himself as 'Don Jair' authorized Elcio's entry into the urbanization.

The doorman wrote down his name and the license plate of the visitor's book, but later, through the security cameras, he saw that the visitor did not digest the president's house, but number 66, where Ronnie lived Lessa, the one accused of firing on Marielle.

A few hours later, the two went together to the center of Rio de Janeiro and killed the young politician with several shots in the head. Queiroz was driving and Lessa shot. Anderson Gomes, the driver of the vehicle in which the councilwoman was traveling, also died.

Despite the goalkeeper's version and that Queiroz's entry was in the guestbook, the truth is that Bolsonaro was not at home in Rio de Janeiro that day, but in Brasilia, as recorded in the attendance record of the Chamber of Deputies. The police now work to see who the doorman really talked to that day and who was at the president's house.

Filtration has fallen like a bomb in Brazil. Marielle's relatives and opposition politicians rushed to describe these new revelations as very serious. The mere mention of Bolsonaro could take the case to the Federal Supreme Court, and ultimately, if the president's link to the crime is proven, there would be a basis for an 'impeachment'.

Bolsonaro threatens the television that leaked the news

Bolsonaro reacted quickly, at dawn, from Saudi Arabia, where he is on an official trip. He recorded a 20-minute video in which he appears visibly upset, screaming and on the verge of tears. He accused television Globo, the most influential in the country, of being conspiring against him, and threatened not to renew the public concession so he can continue broadcasting in 2022.

"They build a narrative and place me as a suspect of having participated or of being one of the mentors of the death of Mrs. Marielle Franco, councilor of the PSOL of Rio de Janeiro (...) will they want to create something, a narrative where I should resign or that the people should go to the street to ask to resign? based on what happens with the Marielle case now? It's the same all the time! "criticized the president.

Bolsonaro also attacked a former ally, the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, whom he accused of having leaked the details of the case to the press to attack him. Witzel, also an ultra-right populist, was chosen last year in part for associating his image with Bolsonaro, but in recent months they have distanced themselves. Witzel wants to be a presidential candidate in three years and Bolsonaro believes he has already launched the dirty war to wear him out.

After the initial uproar, Bolsonaro ordered the Minister of Justice, former judge Sérgio Moro, on Wednesday to do everything possible for the Federal Police to interrogate the doorman again. He believes that he cited his name in the police investigation because "he was wrong or did not read what he signed", adding that the commissioner who takes the case could have written anything and asked him to sign, something that in his opinion could have happened because it is of "a humble person".

Several matches

These are not the first indications that link the Bolsonaro family with Franco's death. Last year, the commissioner investigating the case at the time, Giniton Lages, confirmed that the president's youngest son, Renan, dated Lessa's daughter, the alleged murderer. The commissioner assured that at that time that detail did not matter, and that this relationship would be addressed in a timely manner. The commissioner was removed from his post shortly after and sent to Italy to make an exchange.

A photo of Bolsonaro with Queiroz also came to light, but the president claimed that the photo was old and that he is photographed with thousands of police officers throughout Brazil. Another coincidence. One of the president's children, current Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, hired in his cabinet in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro when he was a deputy in this state, relatives of militiamen, to whom he also paid tribute. The involvement of these paramilitary groups in Marielle's death has always been one of the main lines of investigation.

Last year, months after the murder, Flávio was the only deputy who refused to honor the councilor posthumously with the Tiradentes Medal, the highest honor of the Rio Assembly. Bolsonaro Sr. was also the only presidential candidate who did not condemn the murder of the councilwoman.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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