Brazil

Former Brazilian President Fernando Collor Arrested, Ordered to Begin Sentence

APR 25 2025·Updated APR 26 2025

Story

Above: Fernando Collor de Mello, a former Brazilian president turned senator, delivers a speech during the debate on suspending and impeaching President Dilma Rousseff in Brasília on May 11, 2016. Image credit: Evaristo Sa/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images

The Facts

Former Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello — the first Brazilian president to win the popular vote after the end of the military regime in 1985, in 1990, and the first to ever be impeached in the country, in 1992 — was arrested in Maceió, capital of the northeastern state of Alagoas, early on Friday.
Agência Brasil
Reuters
Collor was in the Maceió airport at the time of his arrest and, according to his lawyers, he was preparing to fly to Brasília to voluntarily present himself to authorities in the country's capital after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered him to start serving his jail sentence.
The Brazilian Report
Folha de S.Paulo
Valor International
This comes as Moraes dismissed the latest defense appeal to reduce the sentence and requested a special Supreme Court virtual session to review the decision. He further said in his ruling that immediate execution of sentences is allowed when legal maneuvers are used exclusively to delay final judgment.
The Brazilian Report
Valor International
About two years ago, Collor was convicted for passive corruption and money laundering related to taking 20 million Brazilian reais ($3.5 million) in bribes to facilitate contracts between a state-owned petroleum distributor and an engineering firm from 2010 to 2014, and was sentenced to eight years and ten months behind bars.
Folha de S.Paulo
Valor International
The case against Collor stems from the sweeping Operation Car Wash corruption investigation, with evidence including testimony from whistleblowers and documents found in the office of a money changer. Since the former president served as a senator for his home state from 2007 to 2023, his case went directly to the Supreme Court.
ap
Folha de S.Paulo
Collor is the third former president in Brazil to serve time since its return to democracy, after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — who spent 580 days in prison between 2018 and 2021 before his political comeback — and Michel Temer — who was detained for four days in 2019. In 1994, he was acquitted of a corruption charge related to his presidential term.
Bloomberg.com
Folha de S.Paulo

Sources Split

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The Spin

Pro-government narrative

The arrest of Fernando Collor de Mello, a former president and senator, further demonstrates a continued effort in Brazil to fight corruption and ensure accountability for those abusing public office for personal gain, regardless of their political status.

The Rio Times

Opposition narrative

This arrest is a further example of how the Brazilian Supreme Court has become harmful to the country's democracy, with selective enforcement against opposition figures. It's concerning that Operation Car Wash is valid only when the defendant is not aligned with the current government.