Brazilian police have raided the beachside mansion of one of Jair Bolsonaro’s most influential politician sons as part of an expanding investigation into an illegal spying racket that allegedly existed during his far-right presidency.
At least three federal police vehicles were seen entering the Vivenda da Barra condo where 41-year-old Carlos Bolsonaro lives in western Rio on Monday morning.
The television network GloboNews reported that the raid had been ordered as a result of police suspicions that Carlos, who is one of his father’s closest confidants, had illegally received intelligence material from his father’s former intelligence chief, Alexandre Ramagem.
Ramagem, who ran Brazil’s intelligence agency, Abin, during Bolsonaro’s 2019-22 government, had his home and offices raided by police last Thursday as part of an investigation into illegal snooping. One of the accusations Ramagem is facing is that during his time running Abin, he was involved in a “criminal organisation” that used Israeli spyware to track Bolsonaro’s political foes. Police also reportedly suspect that intelligence material was produced to benefit members of the Bolsonaro clan. Ramagem has denied wrongdoing and described the accusations as an attempt to derail his political career and the Bolsonarista right as a whole.
Bolsonaro, who has yet to comment on Monday’s raid on his son’s house, called last week’s operation against Ramagem “relentless persecution”.
Carlos, a Rio councillor and social media whiz, is one of the most high-profile and pugnacious figures within the world of Bolsonarismo, famed for his ferocious and often enigmatic attacks on X against his father’s political foes.
In a public statement of their proximity, Carlos travelled to his father’s 2019 inauguration in the presidential Rolls-Royce, alongside Bolsonaro his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro calls Carlos “my pitbull”.
Carlos, who has also not commented on the operation, was reportedly not at home when police arrived on Monday but at a family villa in the nearby resort town of Angra dos Reis, with his father and two politician brothers. Helicopter images appeared to show that police had used a ladder to scale the front wall of his mansion in Rio. Carlos’s offices in city hall were also reportedly raided.
More to follow…