Jair Bolsonaro bought ice cream and pizza with the presidential card – Liberation

If money has no smell, for Bolsonaro it must certainly have a taste. Maybe that of ice cream or McDonald’s menus. The former president, who is slow to return from the United States where he flew just before the inauguration of his rival for fear of legal proceedings, is once again at the limit. The General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Brazilian Republic made public the transactions made with the presidential credit card during his mandate on Wednesday. The request was issued by Fiquem Sabendo, an independent agency that fights for access to information and the transparency of public service documents. Lula, Dilma Rousseff, Michel Temer, Jair Bolsonaro… the Excel spreadsheet, made available to everyone, lists presidential expenses since 2003.

McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King…

During Bolsonaro’s mandate, from 2019, until his defeat against Lula, a total of 27.6 million reais was spent, or just over 5 million euros. Many of these deals are eye-catching, including luxury accommodations and expensive meals. The former Brazilian president had the easy way during his tenure and didn’t skimp on spending much. They have been detailed in several Brazilian national media, including O Globe.

The scientific journal Nucleo do Conhecimento recalls on its site that the use of public resources, through the presidential bank card, can only be performed for “costs incurred for the purchase of equipment and the provision of services”. The national media Oh Globe he dwells on some questionable figures: the credit card made it possible to finance about sixty ice cream orders, for 8,600 reais. More than 10.5 million went directly to hotel rooms – including the Ferraretto Hotel in Guarujá – or apartments and 800 reais to McDonald’s menus. Not forgetting a few meals at Pizza Hut and a visit to Burger King.

Other chain restaurants were seemingly popular spots for the former head of state, including Outback, with more than a dozen publicly funded meals in total. Expenses that correlate, for some, with moments in the former president’s personal life. 55,000 reais was spent in one weekend at one of the country’s chain bakeries, Santa Marta, just as one of Bolsonaro’s sons, Eduardo, celebrated his wedding in Rio in 2019.

One of the most unequal countries in the world

In these four years, the Brazilian media, including Folha de Boa Vista, chose to keep spending higher on food. A restaurant in Boa Vista in the Amazon cost more than 109,000 reais where, as Sao Paulo MP Sâmia Bomfim (left) said in a tweet, the dish costs less than 20 reais.

For the moment, the former president has not commented on these revelations. Other personalities have not hesitated to talk about these revelations on Twitter, including William de Lucca, journalist and activist, questioning Bolsonaro’s spending in what appears to be his favorite supermarket: “There were 1,490 signings during his four years in charge and Jair [Bolsonaro] he spent 815,417.42 reais there.

Brazil is one of the most unequal countries in the world. According to Brazil’s Food Sovereignty and Food Security Research Network, more than half of the country’s inhabitants, 125 million out of 213 million inhabitants, have no certainty about what they will be able to eat in the near future.