Crisis in Brazil: Minister of Health denied resigning, but Jair Bolsonaro has already met his possible successor

The The Brazilian Minister of Health, Army General Eduardo Pazuello, denied this Sunday having tendered his resignation, amid pressure from political sectors to leave due to questioned management of COVID and at a time when Brazil is going through its worst moment of the pandemic.

The alleged resignation of Pazuello for health reasons was denied in a press release from the ministry under his responsibility shortly after the presidential press secretary admitted that the head of state, Jair Bolsonaro, interviewed a doctor who is listed as his possible replacement in the portfolio.

“The Ministry of Health informs that Minister Eduardo Pazuello continues to lead the portfolio, his management being engaged in actions to deal with the pandemic in Brazil,” said the note. “It should also be noted that Pazuello is in perfect health and that there is no request for the minister’s resignation from the President of the Republic,” the statement added.

According to the press versions, The minister, under pressure from politicians from the official base itself and from sectors of the military, allegedly alleged health reasons to justify his departure from the government..

Rumors of his resignation intensified on Sunday after Bolsonaro met with the cardiologist. Ludmila Hajjar, which the leaders of some official parties have presented as a possible candidate for the post of Minister of Health.

Centrist parties that have joined the ruling bloc in recent months are pressuring Bolsonaro to change the health ministry to prevent strong criticism of the government’s management of the pandemic from directly affecting the Head of State.

Pazuello, a militar especialista en logística pero sin experiencia en el sector salud y que asumió como tercer ministro del área en el Gobierno de Bolsonaro tras las salidas de los dos primeros por divergencias con el mandatario, es señalado por estos partidos como uno de los responsible for him worsening of the pandemic in Brazil.

Hajjar’s eventual appointment as minister has been publicly defended by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, an important ally of Bolsonaro.

Lira, in her social networks, said that the fight against the pandemic “requires technical skills” and a “capacity for political dialogue” and that he considers that Hajjar has these characteristics. “I hope and strive so that, if she is appointed Minister of Health, she can perform well in her new functions, for the good of the country and the Brazilian people, in this hour of enormous gravity. As Minister, if it is confirmed, I will be at your entire disposal, ”declared the legislator.

Center parties that support Bolsonaro are also pushing for the change of minister so that Bolsonaro can distance himself from the leadership’s harsh criticism of COVID-19 that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the main opposition leader , did against him. . who returned to the political arena this week after the Supreme Court overturned his corruption convictions.

Since the highest court restored him the right to run in the presidential elections of 2022, in which he can face Bolsonaro, Lula has attacked the far-right leader, whom he described as “ignorant” for his negationist positions in the face of the pandemic.

Since the start of the pandemic, Bolsonaro has played down the disease, defended the use of COVID drugs without medical verification, criticized social distancing measures and the use of masks, and questioned the effectiveness and safety of vaccines.

Bolonarians protest restrictions

Thousands of supporters of the Brazilian president protested this Sunday in the country’s main cities, such as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Belo Horizonte, against restrictive measures imposed by regional governments to stop the pandemic.

The protests were called on social media by Bolonarian groups and the most massive was the one in Sao Paulo., the largest city in the country, which gathered a thousand people and a large caravan of vehicles. Participants, mostly wearing the colors of the Brazilian flag and without masks, spoke out against social distancing measures that various regional and municipal governments have reimposed to try to stop the spread of COVID at a time when Brazil is going through the worst time. of the pandemic.

The governments of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, among many others, have in recent days imposed measures such as night curfews, a ban on events with crowds and business closures, to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus at a time when their hospital systems are on the verge of collapse due to the lack of intensive care units.

The measures have been criticized by Bolsonaro. Some demonstrators even took advantage of the rallies to defend a military intervention in Brazil that would expand the powers of the president and the dismissal of the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.

In Brazil’s largest city, protesters also demanded the resignation of Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria, another strong opponent of Bolsonaro, a possible presidential candidate and equally harsh critic of the government’s handling of COVID. Doria is precisely the one who announced last week the return of Sao Paulo to the red phase of the containment plan, which provides for the most restrictive measures to try to stop the pandemic.

In Sao Paulo, protesters marched in a long caravan of vehicles through several streets of the city until they focused on the iconic Paulista Avenue in front of the headquarters of the powerful Federation of São Paulo State Enterprises. (Fiesp).

In Rio de Janeiro, they marched along the avenue that surrounds the famous Copacabana Beach and protested mainly against restrictive measures that threaten the livelihoods of businesses.

The event in Brasilia consisted of a long and bustling caravan of vehicles that traveled through the Esplanade of Ministries, an important road that houses the main government buildings of the country and the seat of the executive, legislative and judicial powers. The caravan caused a huge traffic jam in the Brazilian capital.

In Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, Brazil’s second most populous state after Sao Paulo, demonstrators also stayed in their vehicles and protested in a caravan that left from Pope’s Square and ended in the city center. .

Brazil, the current global epicenter of the COVID pandemic, has recorded 1,127 new deaths and 43,812 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, which now exceeds 278,000 victims and affects 11.5 million cases.

According to the bulletin published this Sunday by the Ministry of Health, Brazil has accumulated 278,229 deaths and 11,483,370 infections since the start of the pandemic, which confirms it as the second country in the world in number of deaths and cases, just behind the United States.

The high averages of recent days confirm that Brazil is currently experiencing a second wave of the pandemic, more virulent and deadly than the first, in part caused by the circulation of new strains of the virus, among which the Brazilian variant originating in the Amazon and which the researchers say is three times more contagious than the original.

(With information from EFE)

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