Brazil police search Portugal's Consulate in Rio de Janeiro as part of a corruption investigation

Associated Press

Updated 7 November 2023 at 1:33 pm·1-min read

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian federal police conducted searches at five locations, including the Portuguese Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, as part of a corruption investigation Tuesday.

Portuguese public prosecutors and Portuguese security agents accompanied the Brazilian officers, according to a statement from the Federal Police force. Pictures shared by the agency's press office showed officers in front of the consulate, which is located in the Sao Clemente Palace.

Portuguese authorities are investigating alleged corruption and the falsification of documents in collusion with applicants seeking visas and Portuguese nationality, according to the statement.

A spokesperson from the federal police’s press office said the searches were unrelated to the corruption-related raids and arrests in Portugal that prompted Prime Minister António Costa’s resignation Tuesday.

The police statement did not disclose the four other locations searched, but at least one was in Saquarema, a seaside town north of Rio.

Many Brazilians have struck out for Portugal during the past decade of economic downturn and political polarization; about 252,000 live there, according to Brazil's government. They are by far the largest foreign community in the European nation and have increasingly faced xenophobia.

Brazilian Justice Minister Flávio Dino commented Tuesday on a video that went viral on social media this week. It shows a Portuguese woman calling a Brazilian woman “pig,” saying she should go back to her country and that Brazilians were “invading Portugal.”

“Well, if that’s the case, we have the right to reciprocity, because in 1500 they invaded Brazil,” Dino said at a conference in Brasilia. He jokingly added that he would agree to repatriate all the Brazilian immigrants in Portugal in exchange for the gold the Portuguese extracted centuries ago.

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