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If all the damages of a corruption scheme as extensive as the one revealed by the Public Ministry in the administration of Mayor Marcelo Crivella (Republicans) were not enough, everything worsened even more because it happened in the middle of the pandemic. The mixture of these two factors (theft plus covid-19) helps explain why Rio is the capital with the highest number of deaths from coronavirus in December, surpassing even São Paulo, which has twice the population.
Until 18, the capital of Rio de Janeiro had 942 deaths in the month, while the capital of São Paulo registered 822 deaths from covid-19. The numbers in Rio are growing, but the health network is shrinking. The reason? The resources that are left in the Crivella pipeline are lacking to serve the population, accuses the MP. Without payment, both companies and doctors and nurses could not continue working in hospitals and clinics.
In his presentation to explain the detention of Crivella, the Deputy Attorney General for Justice, Ricardo Ribeiro Martins, said that it was necessary to interrupt the flow of public money due to the illicit scheme. Even with the tragic figures for December, the mayor and his “cronies” continued to prioritize the payment of companies that contributed bribes. Paying the health workers and social organizations who worked in the units was far from a priority, Martins said.
According to the complaint, Renato Alves, the main operator of the scheme, decided which companies would receive the so-called “remnants to pay” (settlement of arrears). As if he were the mayor himself, Alves chose to pay those businessmen to bring bribes to the gang.
Going through a serious financial crisis, the City Council had to choose between paying overdue debts or paying the employees of the different departments, including Health. Social organizations that worked in clinics and hospitals were neglected, said the deputy attorney.
As a result, many professionals working on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic were left without pay. Not a few have renounced this inglorious struggle.
In addition, many teams were repressed in the middle of a pandemic, leaving resources to fatten the accounts of the criminal organization.
Of all the forms of corruption, that which exchanges the lives of citizens for illicit profits is perhaps the cruelest.
Especially when commanded by a politician who repeated it so many times before the cameras, with an impassive expression, who took over the City Hall to “take care of the people.”
It should be remembered that the outgoing governor of Rio, Wilson Witzel (PSC), suffers an accusation process and threatens to be arrested for allegations of theft also in the resources that should be allocated to combat the coronavirus.
Witzel and Crivella’s execution sheet explains the suffering of so many families that they lost relatives when they were able to save them. And also the anguish of those who, at the exact moment you read this text, find themselves in a corridor of a hospital with a loved one in serious condition waiting for an ICU bed that, unfortunately, may never arrive.
