Mauro Cid’s silence keeps Bolsonaro on a tightrope – 05/20/2023 – Bruno Boghossian

Jair Bolsonaro must not be sleeping very well. Sleep deprivation may help explain the ex-president’s disconcerted attitude when he tries to dodge the accusations that fall on Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid or explain his relationship with his right-hand man at the Planalto Palace.

Bolsonaro takes a stumbling walk on a tightrope. Since Cid was arrested for falsifying the chief’s vaccination card, the former president has tried to keep his distance from the acts carried out by the aide-de-camp. At the same time, he makes signs to prevent the former assistant from feeling abandoned and decides to tell what he saw in the presidential office.

The former president showed signs of that vacillation throughout the week. In an interview given to Veja magazine on Wednesday (18), Bolsonaro practically acknowledged that there was a crime (“It seems that someone did something stupid”) and insinuated that the target should only be Cid (“I don’t want to accuse him of anything “). Afterwards, he praised the former assistant and said he considers him “a son”.

The behavior continued the following day, during a passage by Bolsonaro through Congress. The ex-president patted his subordinate (“He was an excellent Army officer”), but also insisted on keeping the pineapple in Cid’s lap (“I pray to God that he didn’t make a mistake, and each one goes on with his life”).

Between the interview and Bolsonaro’s visit to Congress, Cid went to the PF headquarters to testify, but he preferred to remain silent. The decision clearly did not reassure the former president, as the expectation was that the assistant would take the blame at once, ruling out the possibility of implicating the former boss.

Bolsonaro’s nervousness is clear because Cid keeps the worst secrets of the presidential office. The former aide-de-camp was a character in the former president’s coup plan, the attempt to keep Saudi jewels and the use of cash by the then first lady. A generous (and excessive) breach of secrecy authorized by the STF has already begun to fuel these investigations.

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