Brazilian decides to leave Belarus for the coronavirus: “fear of living where a pandemic is not taken seriously” | World

“I know that the situation in Brazil is not easy, but the fear of the virus convinced me. I left Belarus for now. I am leaving with a broken heart, but I am very afraid to live in a country that does not take the pandemic seriously, “says Ciriaco.

“If the government said we have to take action, everyone would follow a protocol. As the pandemic is not treated as it should, it causes fear and concern, “says the preparer, who already has tickets to return to São Paulo in the next few days with his wife and two children: a 10-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. .

President proposes vodka and sauna against coronavirus

President Alexander Lukashenko is one of the few leaders to insist on denying the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already killed an additional 267,000 people worldwide. After classifying measures such as the blockade, adopted by various countries around the world, as “psychosis”, it caught the attention of international newspapers when it gave its recipe to combat the new coronavirus: going to the sauna and drinking vodka.

Considered the last dictator of Europe, in power for 24 years, Lukashenko goes against all the recommendations of the World Health Organization. (WHO) and has not taken any preventive measures: the soccer championship is still ongoing and until now no measures have been taken to promote social distance. He maintained the traditional military parade that marks victory over the Nazis in World War II on Saturday (9).

Lukashenko also doesn’t shy away from the crowds and at an ice hockey match at an amateur tournament in March, he stated that “I wasn’t seeing any viruses” in the crowded arena.

• “No one will die again from the coronavirus,” says the President of Belarus

At the start of the pandemic, bulletins were scarce and did not mention deaths. However, after a visit by a WHO commission, there was a more rapid evolution in the number of deaths. Still, the number of victims is not that high.

Officially, just over 100 people died from complications of Covid-19 and more than 19,000 were infected with the new virus in the country of 9.5 million people.

Little by little, the reports of contamination cases spread and part of the residents began to realize the gravity of the situation and to look suspiciously at the statistics published by the Ministry of Health.

Self protection

For their part, part of the Belarusians began to take preventive measures, such as wearing masks on public transport and in stores. Commercial establishments began offering gel alcohol and guiding customers to keep a meter away.

Parents began to prevent their children from attending classes after the March break, which had already spanned from one to three weeks. They sign terms of responsibility so that the absences of the children are paid and they do not miss the school year, which has already ended.

And so it was that Ciriaco began to lose part of the students to whom he gave private classes.

“Some parents asked to take a break from classes. My training was canceled and concerns arose, not only with the health problem, but also with the financial problem, “he says.

Ciriaco, who visited the capital Minsk in 2015 at a soccer world cup with the Brazilian team, regrets having left the country where he settled with his family in December 2017.

“When I say that I am Brazilian, the children’s eyes even shine. I love this country very much. There is no violence It is common to see children of seven or eight years walking alone in the subway. There is no assault or robbery on the news. If I have a chance after this crisis is over, I can go back, ”he says.

Samba and reggaeton teacher Márcia Mandava, 27, also saw her students disappear with the epidemic in the country: the number dropped from 50 to five between March and May.

“My students work with information technology or are administrators. Who can is working at home. So, I decided to quarantine and stay until I didn’t know when. Now around 20% of my students are taking classes online, ”says the Belarusian who is the daughter of a Brazilian father and lived in Rio de Janeiro for 14 years.

Márcia and her husband, who continues to work, wear masks when they get on buses and in stores as a precaution. “But there is no official guide to that here.”

She says that her friends leave the house to work, when they can’t do the home office, and try to leave to go to the supermarket.

“It’s from home work and that’s it. We try not to panic, but we are not going to say that nothing is happening. ”

However, the teacher points out that many compatriots, although they try to stay home during weekdays, have taken advantage of the weekend to travel to cities and towns in the interior.

He also said he has no intention of attending a military parade scheduled for Saturday in Minsk. “Our president said that if we don’t want to go, it is not mandatory, but the parade is going to happen. My family does not go for the coronavirus. We will see it from home.

The military parade to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory Day in World War II is a very important moment for Lukashenko, who is running for the sixth term in the second half of that year and is closely related to Russia.

Lukashenko has maintained an authoritarian regime since he came to power in 1994, three years after the country gained independence from the USSR.

He violently repressed popular protests, the opposition and the media. The weak opposition could not contain the maneuvers to change the constitution and ensure that it managed to remain in power for so long.

Lukashenko is accused of eliminating dissent with the help of the intelligence service that maintains the “KGB” name, as in the Soviet Union.

Lukashenko’s arrival to the presidency somehow marks the victory of the Belarusian current that welcomes the approach to Moscow in opposition to those who believed that the country should have recourse to Europe, as happened with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, currently part of the European Union (EU).

However, Lukashenko deftly maneuvered his country’s relationship with the European powers, the United States and Russia, the renowned heir to the former Soviet Union (USSR).

Its relationship with Western powers has improved in recent years, especially after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014. It remained neutral in the conflict and proposed Minsk as the site of the peace talks. In return, the economic sanctions imposed by the EU on the country in 2006 were lifted after a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters.

Lukashenko also seeks to maintain a privileged relationship with the Russians and, therefore, to keep alive a certain legacy of the heyday of the USSR, which concentrated heavy and electronic industry on its territory.

Belarus was a founding member of the Eurasian Economic Union (UEE), one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favorite projects, with the aim of reintegrating the former Soviet republics. Russian support helps the country keep the industrial and agricultural sector relatively successful.

However, the relationship between the two countries has experienced a moment of tension. President Putin uses Belarus’ dependence on Russia’s oil and natural gas to drive the revival of a 1999 agreement between the two countries, the Union of States Treaty, signed at the time that Boris Yeltsin was still leading Russia.

The Russian government has conditioned the continuation of the credit lines with “father-to-son” rates and the supply of oil at prices much lower than those of the market in exchange for a greater capacity for interference in the internal affairs of Belarus.

Faced with Lukashenko’s resistance, Russia temporarily suspended the delivery of low-cost oil in January, guaranteeing the competitiveness of production at the two main Belarusian refineries in Europe. The negative impact is felt directly in the economy, which is highly controlled by the government.