Massive cacerolazos in main cities of Brazil during televised message from Jair Bolsonaro on pandemic

Several cities in Brazil have registered this Tuesday evening massive demonstrations in the form of “cacerolazos” against President Jair Bolsonaro, as he addressed the country via a national network.

Under the slogan of “¡Bolsonaro outside!”, miles of ciudadanos in San Pablo, Río de Janeiro, Fortaleza, Brasilia, Arrecife, y otras ciudades reclamaron contra la inacción del gobierno para con la pandemia de COVID-19, después de que el país registrara a nuevo record of 3,251 muertes en las últimas 24 hours.

In addition to banging flowerpots on the windows, the protesters also they accused the president of committing genocide.

During his speech of just 4 minutes broadcast on radio and television, the president tried to calm the spirits on the health situation and affirmed that 2021 would be “the year of vaccines”, despite the fact that in the country little more than 5% of the population of 210 million inhabitants had access to a certain dose.

“We are at a time when a New variant of coronavirus has unfortunately claimed the lives of many Brazilians“Said the president, who expressed his” solidarity “to the families of the victims.

“From the start, I said we had two big challenges: jobs and viruses” and “at no time has the government ceased its efforts to save lives and maintain jobs,” said Bolsonaro, who this time softened the tone and avoided criticism from governors and mayors who have decreed partial lockdowns for contain the virus.

Tuesday’s cacerolazos reflected the sharp drop in support for Bolsonaro detected by recent polls, which show this with the approval of the 30% of the business and a loss of 10 points in the last three months.

Earlier on Tuesday, in a reserved ceremony, the president swore an oath to his fourth Minister of Health in a pandemic year, a week after appointing him to fight the health disaster which has already killed more than 295,000 .

The cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga, 55, “was sworn in in a private ceremony”, replacing General Eduardo Pazuello, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

“The new minister brings together the the technical criteria and the relentless reputation profile required for the position with extensive experience in the field, not only in health, but also in management, ”adds the note.

The protests increase pressure against the president, after the Supreme Court rejected his demand to prevent regional and municipal governments from imposing restrictive measures in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus, as the country crosses the worst time of the pandemic. .

Magistrate Marco Aurelio Mello, the oldest among the eleven members of the Federal Supreme Court, precautionary denied that decisions adopted by regional or municipal governments are unconstitutional and, for the same reason, he refused to suspend them.

Bolsonaro, leader of the Brazilian far right, alleges that restrictive measures such as lockdowns and curfews, for causing unemployment and hunger have worse effects than the pandemic itself.

According to official data released on Tuesday, in the last 24 hours, 3,251 deaths and 82,493 infections have been recorded in Brazil, with which the country has already accumulated 298,676 deaths and 12,130,019 cases of the disease since February 2020.

The death toll on Tuesday was a new daily mark, well above the 2,841 deaths recorded on Tuesday of last week, which was so far the highest since the start of the pandemic, and brings Brazil closer to 300,000 victims of covid, an obstacle could be overcome this Wednesday.

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