Jair Bolsonaro faces heat: why Brazil ordered Viagra pills for its military

Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, is facing Opposition heat after it came to fore that his government spent public money on buying Viagra for the country’s armed forces.

Congressman Elias Vaz said he had been informed through a freedom of information request that Bolsonaro's government had approved an order of the erectile-dysfunction pills for the armed forces.

The navy and air force – which between them had reportedly bought more than 35,000 pills – offered an innocent explanation: the drug was supposedly being used to treat pulmonary hypertension.

However, not many are convinced. The Brazilian singer Zélia Duncan asked her hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers how they felt knowing that we’re even paying for Viagra for the armed forces?”

Ciro Gomes, a centre-left politician who hopes to challenge Bolsonaro in October’s presidential election, said that while the armed forces deserved respect, their acquisition departments seemed bent on demoralizing the military.

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Bolsonaro is a former army captain and paratrooper who has packed his cabinet with military men and repeatedly hinted that he would be prepared to lead a military “intervention” against Brazil’s democratic institutions.

Cartoons featuring tanks with drooping cannon proliferated on Twitter, where Viagra was one of Brazil's top trending topics.