Chamber pays for trips for Bolsonaro supporters to Argentina to support Milei in the 1st round

MONEY

Eduardo Bolsonaro, Rodrigo Valadares and Marcel Van Hatten used funds from the House

The Chamber of Deputies spent R$12,900 to finance the travel and stay of Bolsonaro supporters in Argentina during the first round of the presidential elections, in October. According to data from the Transparency Portal, Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), Rodrigo Valadares (União-SE) and Marcel Van Hatten (Novo-RS) used funds from the House to support candidate Javier Milei.

Son of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Eduardo was personally involved in the campaign of the libertarian candidate for Casa Rosada. He left Brasília on October 22nd – the day of the first round of the Argentine elections –, made a stopover in Guarulhos, São Paulo, and landed in Buenos Aires at 12:10 pm. The journey, costing R$1,700, was paid by the deputy and reimbursed by the Chamber. On the way back, Eduardo spent another R$2,500 on the same route. In total, R$4,216.07 was spent on round-trip tickets. The information was published by the Metrópoles portal and confirmed by Estadão.

Eduardo arrived in Argentina during the voting. On social media, he published an image with a drawing of Milei holding a chainsaw alongside Bolsonaro and former American president Donald Trump. “A pleasure to be in good company in the land of brothers!”he wrote.

Marcel Van Hattem left Porto Alegre on October 21, heading to Buenos Aires. Parliament returned on the 23rd in the morning, one day after the first round. Round-trip tickets cost the Chamber’s coffers R$4,236.19. Van Hattem requested a refund for the amount spent.

In the case of deputy Rodrigo Valadares, the expenses covered by the Chamber were for accommodation. The União Brasil deputy requested a refund of R$4,537.66 for four nights, between October 19 and 23, at the Hilton Hotel, in Puerto Madero, in the Argentine capital.

Valadares and Eduardo were received by Milei’s vice-president, Victoria Villarruel. On social media, the parliamentarian posted videos alongside Victoria and at a rally of the opposition ticket to Sergio Massa, the Peronist candidate.

According to Valadares, the deputy traveled at the invitation of Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party coalition, following “reports of interference by the Brazilian government in the Argentine presidential election in favor of candidate Sergio Massa”. According to the parliamentarian, the agendas were documented and the amounts spent are lower than the costs of a trip between Aracaju and Brasília.

Deputies Eduardo Bolsonaro and Marcel Van Hattem were contacted by Estadão, but did not comment until the publication of this text. The space is open to demonstrations.

Contacted by Estadão, the Chamber said that questions about official travel expenses and authorizations should be made via the Access to Information Law (LAI), an instrument that gives 20 days for the body to make the information available.

*With information from Istoé

Read more:

Service for carrying out highly complex exams in Manaus

Sepror Bill sets out new rules for tucanaré-açu fishing in Amazonas

Amendment by the Government’s deputy leader in Congress proposes changes to the 2024 fiscal target