Shunned by Bolsonaro, Huawei has friends in Brazil’s Congress

Next year, Brazil will hold a landmark public auction of its 5G mobile network. The major question mark hanging over the bidding process concerns the involvement of Chinese company Huawei, already banned from participating in corresponding auctions in the U.S., Australia, Japan, and others. With pressure from Washington, the Brazilian government is considering its own veto on Huawei’s involvement, buying into U.S. theories that the company’s technology may have backdoors permitting espionage by the Chinese government.

While the Bolsonaro family is leaning toward a ban, Huawei already has a huge involvement in Brazil’s telecommunications infrastructure and the company has plenty of backers in the country’s Congress.

In Sunday’s municipal elections, former senator and Goiás state governor Maguito Vilela was elected mayor of Goiânia, the Goiás state capital. Despite being in...