Intercept Exposes Brazilian Misdeeds
This week, The Intercept and The Intercept Brasil published a series of articles that sent shock waves through Brazil and the world. We revealed grossly unethical conduct by the prosecutors and judge behind the criminal conviction of Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio (Lula) da Silva. These immensely powerful figures who spent years insisting that they were apolitical anti-corruption crusaders had, in fact, secretly worked together to undermine Lula’s right to a fair trial and convict him so he could not run in last year’s presidential election. Their actions helped lay the path for Jair Bolsonaro, an extreme right-wing authoritarian, to become president. The judge went on to become Bol sonaro’s justice minister.
Until The Intercept reported on this massive archive of leaked materials — private chats, audio recordings, videos, and other documentation provided by an anonymous source — this politicized abuse of prosecutorial and judicial power could not be proven.
Now, Bolsonaro’s most popular minister is on the ropes, and influential voices are calling for him to be fired. Reporting on matters in the public interest and exposing wrongdoing is a cornerstone of democracy. Member support is an essential resource that makes this work possible. Exposing stories like these in the United States is very risky, particularly for journalistic sources. In Brazil, one of the most dangerous countries in the world, holding the powerful to account can be a life-and-death endeavor…
httpss://theintercept.com/2019/06/09/brazil-archive-operation-car-wash
