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“A little cold”.
Then, Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro detected a coronavirus during his populist tours of the country in late March.
“The virus is here. We will have to meet him, welcome him as Chi-ani men,” he told reporters, quoted by Bloomberg. The Brazilian president concludes his humble declaration with an eternal consolation: “We will all die someday.”
At the time, there were around 4,000 cases in South America’s largest country and some 130 deaths. At the end of April, more than 79,000 had been infected and more than 5,500 had been killed by coronaviruses.
However, the dramatic development in Brazil to this day has failed to humiliate Bolsarro, who continues to argue that no special measures or social isolation are needed. That is why the country is on the verge of collapsing medical care: in the poorer regions of the north of the country, beds are no longer available and doctors are exhausted.
“There are many conditions that the pandemic here will become much more serious,” Paulo Brando, a virologist at the University of Sao Paulo, told ABC.
Many scientists in Brazil also believe that the information, which is frightening even now, is actually quite small, with a probability of a million patients. This is favored by winter in the country, which provides even more favorable conditions for the development of respiratory diseases.
Furthermore, evidence is not available in the country, and its somewhat broader application has recently indicated that the increase in cases is directly related to evidence. In practice, this means that patients may be 12 times more likely.
Brazil has universal public health care, but people with funds can also benefit from private hospitals. However, experts say a series of budget cuts since the country’s last recession in 2015 has dramatically worsened the situation in public hospitals, which could not boast decent conditions anyway.
That is why inequalities in society are reflected more than ever in medical care: approximately half of all intensive care beds in Brazil are located in private hospitals that serve only a quarter of the population, according to the Consulate. Foreign.
Belief and madness
Bolsonro, a former military officer and defender of Brazil’s military dictatorship, took office in 2019 after a blatant racist and sexist campaign to promote open deforestation in the Amazon. Therefore, their rhetoric during the pandemic is not entirely unexpected, but it borders on insanity.
Bolognaro, for example, declared that Brazilians are vaccinated with diseases and that “they will not catch anything,” and supported his argument with the well-known fact that “the Lord is Brazilian,” recalls the New York Post.
The Brazilian president also strongly criticized local authorities in some areas that promoted social exclusion, and even fired the health minister, Luis Anrique Mandeta, in mid-April, who also called for measures and physical distance, in which the president saw a threat to the economy.
However, these conflicting messages only confuse Brazilians.
Things even went so far on April 19 that Bolsonaro himself protested with people dissatisfied with the measures introduced by some mayors.
“You are here because you believe in Brazil. We don’t want to negotiate anything, all we want is action!” He said during the protest, still coughing heavily.
The president claims to have given two negative samples for the coronavirus, but to this day he refuses to publicly show the results.
“The problem is controversial rhetoric that can make social exclusion ineffective,” Cecilia Machado, a professor of economics in Rio de Janeiro, told Foreign Policy.
The data also supports this uncertainty in the population, while on March 22, almost 70% complied with the measures, on April 15 it was only 47%, a proportion in which the infection spread almost freely.
The reason for this probably lies in the impasse of millions of Brazilians who work in construction or as street vendors and for whom social exclusion amounts to starvation. That is why it is convenient for many of them to believe in Bolsarro’s thunderous words that everything is a farce.
Protest in support of Bolsonro on April 26. Getty photo.
Hope for justice
At the end of last week, the much-loved Minister of Justice, Sergio Moro, resigned.
At a press conference in which he announced his decision, Moro also made a series of accusations against Bolsarro, including corruption, abuse of influence, obstruction of justice, and attempts to conceal public documents.
These charges led the Brazilian Supreme Court to initiate an investigation into the president within 60 days.
However, any charge must first be accepted by the lower house of Congress before an impeachment or Supreme Court process can begin, depending on the type of crime the president can be charged with.
If that happens, Bolsonaro will be replaced by Vice President Hamilton Murao for up to 180 days. If the Supreme Court declares the President guilty, he will be removed from office.
However, this is not cause for joy: Congress in Brazil is known for its fragmentation, and Bolsonaro can be sure that he will receive the support of conservatives.
The Amazon crisis
And while Brazilian society is trying to cope not only with health but also with the economic and political crisis, COVID-19 has also been able to reach particularly vulnerable groups such as the Amazonian tribes.
A death was also announced in the Yanomami tribe on April 10, where a 15-year-old boy died and his test showed the virus.
“Without a doubt, the main reason for the spread of COVID-19 in the root territory of Yanomami is that the 20,000 illegal miners enter and leave the protected area without control,” the Institute of Sociology and Environment cited on CNN.
“The Yanomami, like many other locals, are among the most vulnerable groups and need protection unless Brazil wants to be complicit in the genocide,” he said.
However, this is unlikely to touch Bolsonaro, which has long tried to make the Amazon a cheap and reliable source of energy after building hydroelectric plants there and driving out the local population.
“Let’s integrate these citizens,” he said on Twitter, clearly stating his attitude on the matter. And what happens if it remains in power remains to be seen, if by then Brazil has not become a hotbed where there is no time to point the finger.
