Brazil's opposition has asked the public prosecutor to investigate a series of bizarre purchases made by Jair Bolsonaro's government.
The opposition in Brazil has shone a spotlight on several public tenders through which the Bolsonaro government allegedly made some very unusual purchases for the armed forces. These include more than 35,000 Viagra pills, the drug used to treat erectile dysfunction, and around 60 penile implants, as well as high-quality food and hair-loss remedies, all bought with public money between 2020 and 2021.
The news is causing uproar in the country, given that hospitals are running short of basic medicines such as insulin to treat chronic illnesses. And public ridicule of Bolsonaro himself — a former military man — and the rest of the armed forces is growing.
Among the expenditure items listed on the Transparency Portal and the Price Panel recently published by the Brazilian government, some caught the attention of Elias Vaz, a member of parliament for the Brazilian Socialist Party. Between 2020 and 2021, the executive led by Jair Bolsonaro — and in particular the Ministry of Defence — channelled considerable public resources through public tenders to supply the armed forces with goods that were not exactly essential, at least for the purposes of their work.
The list includes in particular 35,320 pills of sildenafil, the erectile dysfunction drug better known by the name Viagra. It also includes 60 penile implants costing around 10,000–12,000 dollars each, for a total cost of 700,000 dollars. Added to the Viagra pills and other highly unusual purchases such as hair-loss remedies and high-quality meat and salmon, the total expenditure amounts to millions of dollars. Moreover, the allegation is that the Viagra was purchased at 143 per cent of the market price, making the outlay even higher.
The armed forces have stated that the erectile dysfunction drugs were used to treat pulmonary hypertension, an explanation that has appeared far from credible, given that this is a use quite removed from the one for which Viagra is normally prescribed. The opposition has called on the public prosecutor to open an investigation.
The anger of the opposition and the public has focused on two fronts: on one hand, the humiliation that the Bolsonaro government has inflicted on the military; on the other, the waste of public resources while the country is experiencing a healthcare crisis.
"It is no coincidence that these absurdities happen under a president who systematically acts to dishonour the troops," commented Ciro Gomes, a centre-left politician who could challenge Bolsonaro in the October elections. Gleisi Hoffmann, leader of the Workers' Party, also accused the president of undermining the credibility of the armed forces. And among the public, the news was met with ridicule too, with many pointing out the irony of a man like Bolsonaro — who has always built his image as a former soldier on virility and toxic masculinity — now finding himself having to justify purchases of Viagra and penile implants.
But many have also highlighted the paradox of a country where the healthcare system is under extreme strain, above all due to the aftermath of a pandemic that was handled very badly amid mistakes and denial, while public resources are being used not to shore it up, but to stock the army with unnecessary drugs. "The country's hospitals often have to contend with shortages of medicines, such as insulin, for the treatment of patients with chronic illnesses, and yet against this backdrop the armed forces are receiving thousands of Viagra pills," denounced MP Elias Vaz.
