The story of how the United States changed Brazil’s political scenario through Department of Justice involvement in anti-corruption operation Lava Jato (Car Wash) is finally becoming the mainstream media scandal it should have been long ago.
Following the most recent revelations, congresspeople from across parties are again demanding clarification of the US role in the operation which helped, in the FBI’s own words: “topple” former presidents Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva.
Omission and even censorship of this critically important element from media reporting on Operation Lava Jato is increasingly disturbing as more detail comes to light.
We at Brasil Wire have been publishing, often exclusively and at length about this specific collaboration since 2017, and have been providing a rare critical perspective in English on the geopolitical aspect of operation Lava Jato since we were founded in September 2014.
Respected reporter Monica Bergamo has been amongst the first mainstream journalists to cover recently emerging details of the scandal in her regular Folha de S.Paulo column.
In her latest, published late on 16th July, Bergamo writes:
More than 70 Brazilian deputies from different parties sign a letter in which they ask American lawmakers to demand information from the United States government on cooperation between the FBI and Lava Jato and to adopt legislative measures in this regard.
The document was designed by deputy Glauber Braga (PSOL-RJ) and has the support of parliamentarians from the PT, PDT, PCdoB, PSB, and Rede, and is based on a report by the Agencia Publica and The Intercept Brasil on the proximity between the Federal Police , Brazilian prosecutors and the US Department of Justice’s investigative body.
“Considering the history of the US government’s actions and attempts to influence other countries, the recent revelations about the FBI and DOJ [Department of Justice] connections with Lava Jato are very alarming,” says the document.
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