Bolsonaro’s minister who tried to obtain a Portuguese passport for Mauro Cid leaves the PL
The former Minister of Tourism in the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro, Gilson Machado, announced this Wednesday, 21, his disaffiliation from the Liberal Party (PL) and stated that he will continue to compete for a seat in the Senate for Pernambuco, although he has not yet announced which party he intends to join. In a letter published on social media, he said he was leaving the acronym because he did not have the support of the state leadership.
As Estadão showed, the PL was experiencing an internal dispute between the state president of the party, Anderson Ferreira, and Gilson Machado to define who would be the candidate for the Senate. With Machado’s departure, the party must confirm the name of the party leader in Pernambuco.
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“I continue to be the name defended by President Jair Bolsonaro for the Senate race for Pernambuco. However, I am not the name chosen by the party’s state leadership for this mission”, he wrote.
Opportunity with security!
Machado also stated that he was unable to personally communicate his decision to Bolsonaro because he had travel restrictions and was unable to leave Recife (PE). According to him, however, the movement was shared with senator Flávio Bolsonaro and Renato Bolsonaro, son and brother of the former president.
The Federal Police (PF) arrested Gilson Machado in June last year, in Recife. According to the PF and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), he had tried to obtain a Portuguese passport for Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp, to leave Brazil. At the time, Gilson denied the accusations.
Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), ordered the former minister’s release on the same day. For Moraes, “with the steps taken by the PF, preventive detention is no longer necessary and can be replaced by alternative precautionary measures”, such as the cancellation of the passport, the prohibition of leaving the country and of communicating with other people being investigated “by any means”.
In the letter, Machado states that he “changes parties, but not sides” and says that he will remain aligned with Bolsonarism. “I remain faithful to my ideals and values. Always loyal to President Jair Bolsonaro and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro”, he declared.
Gilson Machado is a close ally of Bolsonaro, having become close to the former president in 2018. He was secretary of the Ministry of the Environment during the former president’s administration and, in May 2019, he was appointed president of Embratur, leading the state-owned company for more than a year.
Machado gained prominence for appearing to play the accordion in Bolsonaro’s lives during the covid-19 pandemic. The former minister is an accordion player, has recorded with names like Zé Ramalho and still plays in the band Brucelose. He has already taught the instrument to Bolsonaro. In December 2020, it was reassigned to the Ministry of Tourism.
