This undated file handout picture shows Viagra pills made by Pfizer. AFP
RIO DE JANEIRO,听叠谤补锄颈濒鈥�The Brazilian military came in for stiff scrutiny Monday after a lawmaker revealed it had purchased Viagra pills for the troops, drawing a flurry of jokes on social media.
Congressman Elias Vaz said he had been informed through a freedom of information request that President Jair Bolsonaro鈥檚 government had approved an order of 35,000 of the erectile-dysfunction pills for the armed forces.
鈥淥ur hospitals don鈥檛 have enough medication, and Bolsonaro and his crew are using public money to buy 鈥榯he little blue pill,'鈥� said the opposition lawmaker, calling the purchase 鈥渋mmoral.鈥�
The documents he received do not mention Viagra by name, but say the order was for sildenafil, the active ingredient in the drug, said the center-left deputy.
The defense ministry said in a statement the pills were in fact 鈥渢o treat patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension,鈥� or high blood pressure in the lungs, another use for sildenafil.
That did little to stem social media users鈥� mirth.
Cartoons featuring tanks with drooping cannon proliferated on Twitter, where Viagra was one of Brazil鈥檚 top trending topics.
鈥淭his explains why the military鈥檚 support for Bolsonaro just rises and rises,鈥� quipped one user, playing on the far-right president鈥檚 tight relationship with the armed forces.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has packed his administration with members of the armed forces, and is openly nostalgic for Brazil鈥檚 1964-1985 military dictatorship, despite its record of rights violations.
鈥淪ome say these pills are to help the armed forces f*** democracy even harder,鈥� wrote satirical news site Sensacionalista.
Left-wing Congressmen Marcelo Freixo and Elias Vaz meanwhile said they would ask prosecutors to investigate whether something else was swollen about the purchase: the bill.
They said there was evidence the government was overbilled by up to 143 percent 鈥� often a sign of corruption.
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