CNN — Here is a look at the life of Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil. Birth date: March 21, 1955 Birth place: Campinas, Brazil Birth name: Jair Messias Bolsonaro Father: Percy Geraldo
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Here is a look at the life of Hall of Fame hockey player Wayne Gretzky, who is the all-time leading scorer in National Hockey League (NHL) history, with 2,857 career points (894 career goals and 1,963 career assists).
Birth date: January 26, 1961
Birth place: Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Birth name: Wayne Douglas Gretzky
Father: Walter Gretzky, telephone technician
Mother: Phyllis (Hockin) Gretzky
Marriage: Janet Jones (July 16, 1988-present)
Children: Emma, Tristan, Trevor, Ty and Paulina
Nicknamed “The Great One.”
Only player to have his jersey number (No. 99) retired by the entire NHL.
Won four Stanley Cup championships with the Edmonton Oilers (1984-1985, 1987-1988) and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy (NHL Playoff MVP) twice (1985 and 1988).
Awarded the Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) nine times (1980-1987, 1989).
Won the Art Ross Trophy (NHL scoring title) 10 times (1981-1987, 1990-1991, 1994).
Played in 18 NHL All-Star Games.
At the time of his retirement in 1999, Gretzky held outright or shared 61 NHL records.
Is a part-owner of Wayne Gretzky Estates, a winery and distillery in Ontario’s Niagara region.
1974 – At age 13, scores his 1,000th lifetime goal, in an exhibition hockey game.
1978 – At the World Junior Championship, leads the tournament with 17 points (eight goals and nine assists).
June 1978 – Turns professional, signing with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association.
November 2, 1978 – Gretzky’s contract is sold to the Edmonton Oilers. After the collapse of the World Hockey Association (WHA), the Oilers are one of four WHA teams be absorbed into the NHL the following year.
October 14, 1979 – Scores his first NHL goal, against the Vancouver Canucks.
February 24, 1982 – Scores his 77th goal to break Phil Esposito’s single season scoring record. Gretzky ends the season with 92 goals, which remains an NHL record.
1983-1984 – Scores at least one point in 51 consecutive games. Gretzky’s record of the longest consecutive point scoring streak remains active in the NHL.
August 28-September 15, 1987 – Scores 21 points (three goals and 18 assists) in Team Canada’s victory against the USSR in the best-of-three finals for the Canada Cup. The final is still “considered by many to be the best exhibition of hockey in history.”
August 9, 1988 – His trade to the Los Angeles Kings is announced.
October 15, 1989 – Surpasses Gordie Howe to become the NHL’s all-time leading point scorer, with points 1,850 and 1,851.
October 26, 1990 – Earns his 2,000th career point, the only NHL player to reach that landmark.
March 23, 1994 – Scores his 802nd goal, passing Howe as the all-time leading goal scorer.
February 27, 1996 – Traded from the Los Angeles Kings to the St. Louis Blues.
July 21, 1996 – Signs with the New York Rangers as an unrestricted free agent.
April 18, 1999 – Retires following the Rangers’ 2-1 loss in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gretzky played 20 seasons in the NHL, and a total of 21 seasons professionally.
October 1, 1999 – Gretzky’s jersey, No. 99, is formally retired league-wide.
November 22, 1999 – Inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame, after the three-year waiting period is waived.
June 2, 2000 – Announced as a minority owner, managing partner and head of hockey operations for the Phoenix Coyotes (formerly the Winnipeg Jets). Gretzky officially begins his position on February 15, 2001, when the sale of the Coyotes is completed.
2002 – Establishes the Wayne Gretzky Foundation to connect underprivileged youth with hockey.
February 2002 – The Canadian men’s hockey team, for which Gretzky is the executive director, wins gold at the Winter Olympics for the first time in 50 years.
2005-2009 – Head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.
2014 – Establishes Gretzky Hockey Schools.
October 2016 – Becomes partner, vice chairman and alternate board member for the Oilers Entertainment Group, which owns the Edmonton Oilers. On May 25, 2021, Gretzky announces that he is stepping down as vice chairman.
May 26, 2021 – Turner Sports announces that Gretzky is joining the network as a studio analyst.
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Here’s a look at the life of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Birth date: November 23, 1962
Birth place: Caracas, Venezuela
Birth name: Nicolás Maduro Moros
Father: Nicolás Maduro García
Mother: Teresa de Jesús Moros
Marriage: Cilia Flores
Children: Nicolás Jr.
Worked as a bus driver for Caracas Metro and belonged to the transit union.
Maduro campaigned for Hugo Chavez’s release from prison for the 1992 attempted coup to overthrow President Carlos Andres Perez.
After Chavez’s release, Maduro helped him found the political party Fifth Republic Movement.
1999 – Maduro is elected to the National Constituent Assembly, the body convened to draft a new constitution.
2000 – Is elected to the National Assembly, the country’s legislative branch of government
2005-2006 – Serves as Speaker of the National Assembly.
2006-2013 – Serves as foreign minister.
October 12, 2012 – Is selected by Chavez to serve as vice president.
December 9, 2012 – Facing his fourth surgery for cancer, Chavez endorses Maduro to succeed him.
March 8, 2013 – Is sworn in as interim president following the death of Chavez.
April 14, 2013 – Wins the presidential election by fewer than two percentage points. Maduro’s opponent, Henrique Capriles Radonski demands a recount. On April 17, a manual recount is ruled as unconstitutional by the country’s chief justice.
April 19, 2013 – Maduro is sworn in.
September 30, 2013 – Maduro announces on state-run TV that he is expelling three US diplomats. He claims they were involved in a widespread power outage earlier in the month. “Get out of Venezuela,” he says, listing several names. “Yankee go home. Enough abuses already.”
February 12, 2014 – Ongoing student protests attract global attention when three people are killed. Major social and economic problems have fueled the protests, with some blaming the government for those problems.
February 20, 2014 – Venezuela revokes press credentials for CNN journalists in the country and denies them for other CNN journalists entering the country, following Maduro’s announcement that he would expel CNN if it did not “rectify” its coverage of anti-government protests, calling it war propaganda. On February 22, Venezuela reissues press credentials for CNN journalists in the country.
February 21, 2014 – Maduro calls for US President Barack Obama to “accept the challenge” of holding direct talks with Venezuela.
January 15, 2016 – Following the release of years of economic data, Maduro declares a state of economic emergency.
May 1, 2017 – Maduro announces that he has signed an executive order paving the way for changes in the constitution that will reshape the legislature and redefine his executive powers.
May 13, 2016 – Maduro declares a constitutional state of emergency, which expands on the economic emergency he declared in January.
October 30, 2016 – Maduro participates in talks with political opponents for the first time in two years.
July 30, 2017 – An election is held to replace the National Assembly with a new pro-Maduro legislative body called the National Constituent Assembly. Amid clashes between police and protestors, at least six people are killed. Although Maduro claims victory, opposition leaders say the vote is fraudulent.
July 31, 2017 – The US Treasury Department sanctions Maduro’s assets and bars US citizens from dealing with him. This comes a day after elections are held for a new lawmaking body.
January 24, 2018 – Announces he will run for reelection.
May 20, 2018 – During an election denounced by opposition leaders and the international community, Maduro wins another six-year term. Voter turnout falls to 46%, down from an 80% participation rate in 2013. The next day, an alliance of 14 Latin American nations and Canada, known as the Lima Group, releases a statement calling the vote illegitimate.
August 4, 2018 – Several drones armed with explosives fly towards Maduro in an apparent assassination attempt during a military parade. The next day, the interior minister announces that six people have been arrested in connection with the attack. Maduro is not injured.
August 5, 2018 – Interior Minister Néstor Reverol says that six people have been arrested after the apparent assassination attempt on Maduro.
September 8, 2018 – The New York Times reports secret meetings between US officials and Venezuelan military officers planning a coup against Maduro. CNN confirms the report, which describes a series of meetings over the course of a year.
September 17, 2018 – Maduro is criticized for eating a lavish meal by celebrity chef Nusret Gökçe, also known as Salt Bae, in the midst of a food crisis.
September 25, 2018 – The United States imposes sanctions on Maduro’s wife and three other members of his inner circle, as an attempt to weaken his grip on power.
September 26, 2018 – Maduro speaks at the UN General Assembly, calling the humanitarian crisis in his country a “fabrication.” He accuses the United States and its Latin American allies of “trying to put their hands in our country.”
October 8, 2018 – One of the suspects in the apparent assassination attempt dies in a fall from the tenth floor of a building. Intelligence officials say the death was a suicide.
January 10, 2019 – Maduro is sworn in for his second term, although most democratic countries in the region refuse to recognize him as president. The Organization of American States says its member nations voted 19-6, with eight abstentions, to not recognize the legitimacy of Maduro’s government.
January 23, 2019 – Juan Guaido, who leads the National Assembly, declares himself the interim president amid anti-government protests. Following Guaido’s announcement, US President Donald Trump says that the United States recognizes him as the legitimate president. Maduro accuses the United States of backing an attempted coup and gives US diplomats 72 hours to leave the country.
April 30, 2019 – During a live televised address, Maduro claims troops loyal to him defeated a “coup-de-etat attempt” by Trump and national security adviser John Bolton. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells CNN that Maduro had been preparing to depart the country via airplane, but Russians convinced him to stay. A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry says Pompeo’s claim is false.
July 4, 2019 – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights publishes a report highly critical of the Maduro regime. Based on research conducted January 2018 to May 2019, the report “highlights patterns of violations directly and indirectly affecting all human rights.” Responding a few days later, Maduro says the report contains manipulations and inaccurate data.
March 26, 2020 – The Justice Department announces narco-terrorism and other criminal charges against Maduro and senior leaders from his government. Federal prosecutors in New York’s Southern District, Miami and Washington, DC, allege the officials are the leaders of the so-called Cartel de los Soles and coordinate with the Colombian rebel group FARC to traffic cocaine to the United States.
May 4, 2020 – In a live address on state television, Maduro reports that two American “mercenaries” have been apprehended after a failed coup attempt to capture and remove him. He identifies the captured Americans as Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41. He shows what he claims are the US passports and driver’s licenses of the men, along with their ID cards from Silvercorp, a Florida-based security services company. On August 8, the men are sentenced to 20 years in prison.
July 24, 2021 – During an interview with Venezuela’s state-run television, Maduro says he is ready to open negotiations with the Venezuelan opposition in August.
October 16, 2021 – Venezuela suspends on-going negotiations with the opposition following the Cape Verde extradition of Colombian businessman Alex Saab, alleged financier to Maduro, to the United States on money laundering charges.
September 20, 2022 – A new UN report documents the crimes against humanity, including acts of torture committed by the Venezuelan security forces. The report says the orders for the crimes came from Maduro and other high level officials.
In photos: Venezuela in crisis
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Jimmy Lippert Thyden says he always knew he was adopted. He also knew that he had been born not in the United States, but in Chile. Raised in Virginia by very loving and committed adoptive parents, he says he never lacked anything. The 42-year-old who served in the US Marines is now an attorney who is married and has two young daughters.
“I was told that I was given up for adoption out of love,” Thyden said. “Given by a mother who loved me and wanted the best for me: a life full of opportunity, education and meaning.”
That all started to change in 2012 when his adoptive mother gave him his adoption paperwork as he was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. Thyden says that when he started looking closely at the adoption files, he found out that there were many discrepancies and inconsistencies.
“There were three or four different accounts of a story that were just so divergent that they could not all be true,” Thyden told CNN.
There was one document that said he had no known father or mother. Another provided the name of a biological mother and her address. A third document specified the baby had no living relatives, and a fourth stated that he had been given up for adoption days after birth. Yet another document said he had been given up for adoption when he was two years old.
For years, Thyden wondered about his origins. He wanted to know more but didn’t know where to begin or who to reach out to in Chile.
Thyden says it was not until a few months ago, when his wife read about the case of Scott Lieberman, that he became actively engaged in uncovering the truth about his adoption.
As CNN reported in May, Lieberman, the 42-year-old American from San Francisco, had also been adopted from Chile and had recently found out that he had been stolen as a baby. That’s how Thyden learned about “Nos Buscamos” (We Search for Each Other), a Chilean non-profit organization devoted to helping people stolen as babies find their biological parents and families.
During the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, from 1973 to 1990, many babies were funneled to adoption agencies. Some of the children came from rich families, who in many cases gave up babies born out of wedlock. Other babies from poorer backgrounds were simply stolen.
In the last decade, CNN has documented multiple cases of Chilean babies who were stolen at birth. Authorities in the country say priests, nuns, doctors, nurses and others conspired to carry out illegal adoptions, with the main motive being profit.
Chilean officials say the number of stolen babies could be in the thousands, but the country’s investigation into the controversial adoptions has languished. Some who took part in the illegal adoptions have died. Many clinics or hospitals where the babies were allegedly stolen no longer exist.
After reaching out to “Nos Buscamos,” Thyden says he got an email the next day from its director, Constanza del Río, who told him to call her right away. She suggested a DNA test, which he did on April 17. With the help of MyHeritage, an online genealogy company, Thyden got a match within a few weeks. When the match came back, del Río says she knew the next step was making a phone call to María Angélica González, 69, a woman who had believed for decades her son had died shortly after being born.
“She could not believe it. She thought it was a joke in poor taste because she had been told her premature baby boy had died,” del Río said. Del Río says González had been told the baby’s body had been disposed of in the trash. During the Pinochet dictatorship, when several thousand people were killed and disappeared, asking too many questions or protesting in a loud way could be dangerous. (Chile will mark the 50th anniversary of the coup that brought Pinochet to power on September 11.)
Learning the truth has been bittersweet for Thyden. He’s happy to finally know his true origins but sad about what his biological mother went through.
“She didn’t know about me because I was taken from her at birth, and she was told that I was dead and when she asked for my body, they told her that they had disposed of it. And so, we’ve never held each other, we’ve never hugged,” Thyden said.
After three agonizing months, he was finally able to travel to Chile to give his biological mother the hug that had to wait for 42 years. When they met in the southern city of Valdivia in mid-August, he was finally able to utter the words he had been rehearsing for weeks. “Hola, mamá!,” he said when they finally embraced.
“I’m 42 years old and I’m meeting her and hugging her and holding her for the very first time. That’s so unnatural!” Thyden said later, reflecting on the moment. “It kind of brought me to grips with the wrong that had been done. And then, to know her is to love her. She is a sweet, caring, loving woman of faith and, to know that someone would harm her […] who could hurt such a little, sweet, innocent woman.”
Once in Valdivia, and after also meeting his extended family, there was a very special birthday party that had been organized for him in advance. There were 42 balloons symbolizing the 42 years that he could not celebrate a birthday party with his biological family. As he popped one by one, the family he never knew he had shouted out the number: uno, dos, tres…
“I felt like a lost puzzle piece, a piece that had been lost for 42 years and, in that moment, I felt like I was where I was meant to be, and it felt very much normal, almost as if no time had passed once we got connected,” Thyden said later.
Thyden says that learning the truth has also been painful because his adoptive parents were also lied to and victimized. He says his adoptive parents first contacted an adoption agency in Virginia and specifically asked to adopt a child the right way, through a reputable agency, something that they put in writing.
“They never believed for one second that they were buying a child. They never would have done that,” he said.
Asked about what might have been, Thyden says it’s impossible to know.
“My life came to a T intersection, where I could go either left or right. And instead of going right, it went left. But instead of being the person behind the steering wheel, instead of being a passenger in that car, aware of what was happening, I was the baby in the trunk,” Thyden said.
“It’s not wasted on me that I recognize that I’m blessed in the fact that I have loving families on both sides of the equator. But I don’t know that I wouldn’t have been a lawyer. I don’t know that I wouldn’t have served in the military. Are those things that I did because of where I was or are those things that I did because they are at the core of who I am?,” said Thyden, who pointed out that he says “mom” or “mother” when he’s speaking about his American adoptive mother and “mamá” when he refers to his Chilean, biological mother.
In the end, he says, the wisdom about what happened to him came from his five-year-old daughter, who told him if a bad thing hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t be here. And her father, she told him, has not one but two families who love him deeply.
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At least 11 people, including four children, were killed after a building collapsed in Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco on Friday, according to CNN affiliate CNN Brasil, citing the state’s Secretariat of Social Defense (SDS.)
The children who died were ages five, eight, 12 and 16, according to CNN Brasil citing SDS.
The body of a 19-year-old was also pulled from the rubble by the Fire Department on Saturday morning.
Three people were rescued alive after the building collapsed in the Janga neighborhood on the outskirts of state capital Recife, SDS said, as cited by CNN Brasil.
According to CNN Brasil, citing SDS, 10 people were found dead in the rubble while one person was pulled out of it alive but died later at the hospital.
Three people remain missing, including two children, as search and rescue operations continue at the Conjunto Beira Mar building.
Firefighters and public safety teams were mobilized to the area to help in the ongoing rescue operations at the Conjunto Beira Mar building, SDS said on its Facebook page on Friday.
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The prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of the late American teen Natalee Holloway will be extradited to the US to face extortion and fraud charges, said officials in Peru, where Joran van der Sloot has been serving time for the murder of a Peruvian woman.
Peru “decided to agree to the request for temporary surrender … (of van der Sloot) … for his prosecution in the United States for the alleged commission of the crimes of extortion and fraud” against Holloway’s mother, Justice and Human Rights Minister Daniel Maurate Romero said in a statement Wednesday.
Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot 18 years ago in Aruba.
Separately, van der Sloot was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
A Dutch national, van der Sloot has been indicted in the US on federal charges of extortion and wire fraud in connection with a plot to sell information about the whereabouts of Holloway’s remains in exchange for $250,000, officials said.
The missing 18-year-old’s mother, Beth Holloway, wired $15,000 to a bank account van der Sloot held in the Netherlands and through an attorney gave him another $10,000 in person, the indictment states. Once he had the initial $25,000, van der Sloot showed the attorney, John Kelly, where Natalee Holloway’s remains allegedly were hidden, but the information turned out to be false, the indictment states.
The indictment seeks for van der Sloot to forfeit $25,100, including $100 Beth Holloway initially transferred to van der Sloot to confirm his account.
Holloway was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving a nightclub in Aruba with van der Sloot and two other men.
The three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – were arrested in 2005 and released due to insufficient evidence. They were rearrested and charged in 2007 for “involvement in the voluntary manslaughter of Natalee Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalee Holloway, resulting in her death,” Aruban prosecutors said at the time.
But a few weeks later, an Aruban judge ordered van der Sloot’s release, citing a lack of direct evidence that Holloway died from a violent crime or that van der Sloot was involved in such a crime. The Kalpoe brothers were also released.
Holloway’s body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead.
Van der Sloot’s extradition from Peru to the US was expected to begin Thursday, said George Seymore, CEO of Patriot Strategies, which represents the Holloway family. But Maximo Altez, Joran van der Sloot’s lawyer in Peru, told CNN en Español he will appeal Peru’s extradition decision to face charges in the United States.
Van der Sloot would be returned to Peru after legal proceedings against him conclude in the United States, Peru’s judiciary said.
“The requesting country must keep the defendant in custody during the entire (duration of) proceedings in its territory,” the Peruvian judiciary announced on social media. “Once the criminal proceedings against (van der Sloot) conclude, he will immediately be returned to the Peruvian authorities.”
The US State Department would not confirm details of van der Sloot’s extradition “as a matter of long-standing practice” in such cases, an agency spokesperson said.
News of van der Sloot’s impending arrival in the US brought long-awaited relief to Holloway’s family.
“In May 2005 my 18-year-old daughter Natalee Holloway left Birmingham for Aruba to attend her high school graduation trip and was never seen again,” mother Beth Holloway said in a family statement released Wednesday.
“I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years,” the statement said. “She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called the suspect’s imminent extradition to Holloway’s hometown of Birmingham “significant.”
“Criminals like him are deceptive & vicious. Alabama moms like Beth Holloway are stronger,” Ivey tweeted Thursday. “Her commendable persistence to obtain justice for Natalee is FINALLY paying off.”
Peru has an extradition treaty with the US and previously had agreed to extradite van der Sloot only after he finished serving the murder sentence, the Peruvian news agency Andina reported, meaning US officials may have had to wait until 2038.
Beth Holloway thanked Peru’s new president and supporters near and far.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to President Dina Boluarte, the President of Peru, the warm people of Peru, the family of Stephany Flores, the FBI in Miami, Florida and in Birmingham, Alabama, the US Attorney’s office in Birmingham, the US Embassy in Peru and the Peruvian Embassy in the US, my longtime attorney John Q. Kelly who has worked tirelessly on this case, and George Seymore and Marc Wachtenheim of Patriot Strategies,” the mother said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported when Natalee Holloway was last seen alive. She was last seen alive with Joran van der Sloot 18 years ago in Aruba.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported no one was ever charged in Holloway’s death.
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Mexico is a safer country than the United States, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador argued on Monday, weeks after the high-profile kidnapping of four Americans drew global attention to the country’s security crisis.
“Mexico is safer than the United States. There is no issue with traveling safely through Mexico. That’s something the US citizens also know, just like our fellow Mexicans that live in the US,” he said during his daily morning press briefing.
The kidnapped Americans were traveling in the Mexican border city of Matamoros in early March when they came under attack by gunmen believed to be linked to the Gulf cartel. Two of the Americans and a Mexican bystander died in the incident.
On Friday, the Texas Department of Public Safety advised that residents avoid travel to Mexico during spring break, citing the risk of cartel violence.
Asked by a local reporter about security in Mexico, López Obrador cited his country’s popularity with American tourists and expats, who have descended upon popular coastal areas as well as Mexico City in recent years to take advantage of the warmer weather and cheaper cost of living. US travelers generate billions in revenue for Mexico annually.
“US government alerts say that it’s safe to only travel [in the states of] Campeche and Yucatan. If that were the case, so many Americans wouldn’t be coming in to live in Mexico City and the rest of the country. In the past few years is when more Americans have come to live in Mexico. So, what’s happening? Why the paranoia?”
The Mexican president also claimed there was “a campaign against Mexico from conservative US politicians that don’t want this country to keep developing for the good of the Mexican people.”
While parts of Mexico are established touristic destinations, violent crime including kidnapping and human trafficking plague parts of the country, particularly in border areas. Mexico’s overall homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and the country has been troubled by an epidemic of disappearances with more than 100,000 Mexicans and migrants still missing.
Accusations of inaction and corruption against Mexican officials have also eroded public trust; last year, a Mexican government report blamed the country’s own military and police for the infamous disappearance of 43 students in 2014.
The US State Department has “do not travel” advisories in place for six of Mexico’s 32 states, including northeast Tamaulipas state, where Matamoros is located. It warns Americans to “reconsider travel” to seven Mexican states and “exercise increased caution” in 17 states.
Canada and the United Kingdom also have detailed travel warnings for Mexico.
Six people have been arrested in relation to the deadly Matamoros kidnapping, and Mexico has dispatched hundreds of security forces to the area in what the defense ministry described as a move to safeguard “the well-being of citizens.”
But the incident has also sparked ongoing tension between the Mexican president and US officials.
Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, where the victims of the Matamoros attack are from, said he was planning to introduce legislation that would designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and authorize the US military to operate in Mexico to dismantle drug labs, which are typically run by such criminal organizations.
López Obrador described the notion as an “offense to the people of Mexico” and a “lack of respect for our independence.”
“We are not a protectorate of the United States or a colony of the United States. Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country. We don’t take orders from anyone,” López Obrador said at a news conference.
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Brazilian police searching the house of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s justice minister found a draft decree proposing the introduction of a state of defense to overturn the result of the country’s presidential election, the ministry’s spokeswoman told CNN.
Justice Ministry spokeswoman Lorena Ribeiro said Federal Police found the document while carrying out a search and arrest warrant at the house of Anderson Torres on Tuesday.
She said it proposed implementing a “state of defense” in the Superior Electoral Court while Bolsonaro was still leader in order to overturn the victory of his rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the October election. The draft had not been signed by Bolsonaro, Ribeiro said.
A state of defense is a legal measure that allows the sitting President to intervene in other areas of government to secure public order. While Bolsonaro lost the October election, he remained president until the end of December.
CNN has not viewed the document and Torres – who served as justice minister until the Bolsonaro administration left office – has issued a statement on social media denying he was the author of the decree.
“As Minister of Justice, we are faced with hearings, suggestions, and proposals of the most diverse types,” he wrote. “In my house there was a pile of documents to be discarded, where most likely the material described in the article was found,” he added. “Everything would be taken to be shredded at the Ministry of Justice in due course.”
Torres suggested that the decree draft had been deliberately leaked to media to discredit him.
“The cited document was picked up when I wasn’t there and leaked out of context, helping to fuel fallacious narratives against me. We were the first ministry to deliver management reports for the transition (of power),” he said. “I respect Brazilian democracy. I have a clear conscience regarding my role as minister.”
After leaving government, Torres took office as the head of Security for the Federal District of Brasilia, but was fired on Sunday after protesters breached police barriers and broke into government buildings. He had traveled to Orlando, Florida, allegedly on holiday, just days before the riots and was there as events unfolded.
Torres vowed to cut his holiday short and face justice after search and arrest warrants were issued by the Brazilian Supreme Court, denying any wrongdoing.
Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court issued Torres a preventive detention order under an arrest warrant issued on Wednesday.
The draft documents were first reported by Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo on Thursday.
Brazil’s new Justice Minister Flavio Dino told CNN Brasil on Thursday the existence of the draft decree was “appalling” and said what it called for was “unconstitutional.”
“I didn’t have access to the document and according to the press reports, it was a decree for a coup d’état that emphasizes what we saw on January 8 (the day of the riots), which wasn’t an isolated case. It was an element of a chain, a link in a coup chain in Brazil that had preparatory and astonishing acts, such as a decree of military intervention in the Electoral Court, which is unconstitutional,” Dino said.
He also criticized Torres for keeping the document at his home. “A public agent, upon becoming aware of a crime, should not keep such a document at home. It is something that really shows the will of closing the Supreme Court, the Congress, of preventing the freedom of the Brazilian people to choose their rulers. And all attempts failed, including the one on January 8.”
“What can I say to the Brazilian nation is if someone gives me a document of that nature, they would be arrested, because it is criminal. I wouldn’t keep it, I wouldn’t grind it,” Dino said.
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Here is a look at the life of Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil.
Birth date: March 21, 1955
Birth place: Campinas, Brazil
Birth name: Jair Messias Bolsonaro
Father: Percy Geraldo Bolsonaro, dentist
Mother: Olinda Bonturi Bolsonaro
Marriage: Michelle Bolsonaro; Ana Cristina Valle (divorced); Rogéria Bolsonaro (divorced)
Children: with Michelle Bolsonaro: Laura; with Ana Cristina Valle: Jair Renan; with Rogéria Bolsonaro: Flavio, Carlos and Eduardo
Education: Agulhas Negras Military Academy, 1977
Military: Army, Captain
Religion: Roman Catholic
A conservative provocateur, Bolsonaro has a predilection for making inflammatory statements. His rhetorical targets include women and the LGBTQ community. In 2003, he told a congresswoman that she was not worthy of being raped. During a 2011 interview with Playboy magazine, Bolsonaro said he would be incapable of loving a gay son. He has expressed a sense of nostalgia for Brazil’s past as a military dictatorship.
Bolsonaro served seven terms as a congressman in the Chamber of Deputies. While in congress, his priorities included protecting the rights of citizens to own firearms, promoting Christian values and getting tough on crime. In 2017, he said, “A policeman who doesn’t kill isn’t a policeman.”
Bolsonaro changed his party affiliation numerous times, ultimately campaigning for president as a member of the Social Liberal Party.
When Bolsonaro took office, Brazil was suffering through a prolonged period of economic malaise and rising insecurity. His ascent was preceded by a corruption scandal that rocked political and financial institutions. During his inaugural address, Bolsonaro vowed to transform Brazil into a “strong and booming country.”
1986 – Bolsonaro writes an opinion column for the magazine Veja that criticizes the Brazilian Army’s pay system. He is subsequently disciplined for insubordination.
1989-1991 – Councilman for Rio de Janeiro.
1991-2018 – Congressman representing Rio de Janeiro in the Chamber of Deputies.
July 22, 2018 – Bolsonaro announces he is running for president.
August 15, 2018 – Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former president of Brazil, announces he has submitted the necessary paperwork to register as the Workers’ Party candidate to run against Bolsonaro. Lula da Silva campaigns from prison, where he is serving a 12-year sentence for corruption.
September 1, 2018 – Brazil’s top electoral court bars Lula da Silva from running for reelection while incarcerated. Ultimately, a former mayor of São Paulo named Fernando Haddad steps in as the Workers’ Party candidate.
September 6, 2018 – Bolsonaro is stabbed in the stomach during a campaign rally. He spends more than three weeks in the hospital recovering.
October 7, 2018 – Voters cast ballots in the first round of elections. Although Bolsonaro wins more votes than Haddad, he doesn’t surpass the 50% threshold. A runoff is set for later in the month.
October 28, 2018 – Bolsonaro wins the runoff. The final tally shows Bolsonaro with 55.13% and Haddad with 44.87%.
January 1, 2019 – Bolsonaro is sworn into office. On the same day, he issues a series of executive orders. One order could potentially strip away many LGBTQ civil rights protections by eliminating LGBTQ issues from the list of matters handled by the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights. Another order gives the Agriculture Ministry the authority to designate indigenous lands, paving the way for agricultural development in areas that were previously off limits.
January 15, 2019 – Signs an executive order temporarily eliminating a regulation that limits firearms purchases only to individuals who provide a justification for owning a gun. The regulation gave police discretion to approve or deny gun sales.
January 28, 2019 – Officials say Bolsonaro has undergone successful surgery to remove a colostomy bag he was fitted with after being stabbed four months ago.
February 28, 2019 – Bolsonaro meets with Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaidó in Brasilia. During a joint news conference, Bolsonaro pledges Brazil’s support to help ensure “democracy is re-established in Venezuela.”
May 3, 2019 – A spokesman for Bolsonaro announces that the president has canceled a trip to New York, where he was set to be honored with a Person of the Year award from the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce. The trip was scrapped amid a political backlash. The event’s original host venue, the American Museum of Natural History canceled and some corporate sponsors dropped out. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio had called Bolsonaro “a dangerous man.”
May 7, 2019 – Bolsonaro signs an executive order relaxing gun control restrictions. The executive order makes it easier for guns to be imported and boosts the amount of ammunition an individual can purchase annually.
July 11, 2019 – During a news conference, Bolsonaro says that he wants his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, to serve as ambassador to the United States. He says that Eduardo is friendly with the children of US President Donald Trump.
August 23, 2019 – Bolsonaro announces a plan to send army troops to fight wildfires sweeping through the Amazon rainforest.
August 26, 2019 – At the G7 summit in France, French President Emmanuel Macron announces a $20 million emergency fund to help Brazil with the fires. Bolsonaro responds that he cannot accept Macron’s “intentions behind the idea of an ‘alliance’ of the G7 countries to ‘save’ the Amazon, as if we were a colony or no man’s land.” The dispute devolves after a Facebook user posts a meme ridiculing the appearance of Macron’s wife on Bolsonaro’s page and the president jokes, “Don’t humiliate the guy…haha.”
September 8, 2019 – Bolsonaro undergoes a hernia operation to treat complications from prior surgeries conducted as he recovered from a stab wound.
December 24, 2019 – Tells the Band TV network that he was hospitalized overnight after falling in the presidential palace December 23. He says he had brief memory loss, but that he has recovered.
April 19, 2020 – Bolsonaro joins a rally in the country’s capital, where protesters called for an end to coronavirus quarantine measures and some urged military intervention to shut down Congress and the Supreme Court. He later defends his participation, saying that he was not calling for military action against the country’s other branches of government.
June 23, 2020 – Bolsonaro is ordered by a federal judge in Brasilia to wear a face mask in public or face a fine. The decision extends to all government employees in the Federal District, where the capital Brasilia is located.
July 7, 2020 – Bolsonaro announces he has tested positive for Covid-19, following months of downplaying the virus.
March 16, 2021 – A Brazilian court orders Bolsonaro to pay damages to a journalist after he made remarks that questioned her credibility.
April 27, 2021 – Brazil’s Senate launches an inquiry Tuesday into the federal government’s response to Covid-19.
July 14, 2021 – Bolsonaro is admitted to the hospital to investigate the cause of persistent hiccups that are leading to abdominal pains, according to Brazil’s Special Secretariat for Social Communication.
December 3, 2021 – Brazil’s Supreme Court orders an investigation into Bolsonaro’s false claim that people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 may have a higher risk of contracting AIDS. The inquiry is launched in response to a request by the country’s parliamentary commission which has been investigating Bolsonaro’s government’s response to the pandemic.
January 3, 2022 – Bolsonaro is admitted to a hospital with a blockage in his intestine, the latest medical issue linked to his 2018 stabbing.
June 29, 2022 – A Brazilian court rules that Bolsonaro must pay “moral damages” of 35,000 reais (approximately $6,700) to a Brazilian journalist after making remarks with sexual innuendo about her in 2020.
October 2, 2022 – In the presidential election, Bolsonaro finishes with 43.2% versus Lula da Silva’s 48.4%. Either candidate needed to surpass 50% to be elected in the first round of voting, so the two will face each other in a runoff on October 30.
October 30, 2022 – Bolsonaro loses his bid for a second term, after receiving 49.1% of the vote against Lula da Silva, who wins with 50.9%.
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