Politics

The end of Operation Car Wash as we know it

Operation Car Wash Supreme Court Brazil
Supreme Court Justices head to their seats

On March 17, 2014, the Brazilian Federal Police launched the so-called Operation Car Wash, a probe into a money-laundering scheme working out of a gas station less than 1 kilometer from the seat of Brazil’s Congress. Twenty-eight people were arrested at first, and another 19 were forcibly taken in to provide statements in an effort spread across 17 cities and 7 states.

What seemed like a banal investigation into little-known (at least to the public) crooks became one of the biggest anti-corruption investigations in history. For the last five years, Brazilians have grown accustomed to waking up and following the latest flashy, high-profile round of arrests on the morning news. There have been 258 of them—including some of Brazil’s wealthiest businessmen, a powerful former House Speaker, and the most popular politician in the country’s democratic history.

In a country where citizens expect the worst from public institutions, Operation Car Wash offered a much-needed hope for change. Despite its excesses—and there were many—the probe is the most courageous reaction to structural corruption in Brazilian history. Politicians from all corners of the political spectrum tried to attach themselves to the Car Wash brand—none more effectively than President Jair Bolsonaro.

He was swept into the presidency on an anti-establishment wave, and one of his first cabinet appointments was none other than Sergio Moro, the former federal judge who became a celebrity among conservatives and the most powerful Justice Minister of recent decades. Parallel to that, federal prosecutors who worked with the operation were promoted, while investigators were named to top positions at...

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