Jair Bolsonaro compared measures against COVID-19 with the Venezuelan dictatorship

The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro said on Saturday that the country is experiencing a “dictatorship” due to restrictions that some regions the country has implemented to avoid contagion by covid and has compared them to the “freedoms denied” by the “regime” of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

The statements were made during a visit by the far-right leader to a favela on the outskirts of Brasilia, home to several Venezuelan citizens who have fled due to the economic and social crisis in the neighboring country. “You are living here in Brazil too an experience that looks a bit like a dictatorship, with this policy of staying at home,” said the Brazilian president during the meeting, which was broadcast on social networks.

“The Brazilians, look at what you have and what you can lose,” Bolsonaro said of the Venezuelans. “They left the regime which, little by little, took away their freedom,” he said. “Brazil will not become a Venezuela, be assured of that,” he added.

Without wearing a mask, the Brazilian president once again criticized measures that reduce mobility in certain regions of the country and said Brazil “is reaching the limit” as these policies seek only to “stifle” the economy.

Bolsonaro, 65, who was already infected with covid-19, is one of the most negationist leaders in the face of the severity of the pandemic and since the arrival of the virus in the country, there are more than one year, he harshly questioned the measures of social isolation imposed to a greater or lesser degree by the governors of the 27 states of Brazil.

“I have the power to force a ‘lockdown’ all over Brazil just by using my pen, but it won’t be done. (…) “Our army will never go out into the streets to force them to stay at home, never! Our army (will do) nothing against their individual freedom, ”the president stressed.

Brazil, with its over 210 million people are going through the worst phase of the pandemic since the arrival of the coronavirus in the country, just over a year ago, and remains the second nation in the world with the highest number of deaths and infections from the virus. There are already more than 350,000 deaths from the virus.

Last week recorded two new death certificates, both claiming more than 4,000 victims, the highest daily death rate from covid-19 on the planet today.

Despite the numbers, some parts of the country like Rio de Janeiro, they relaxed the restrictive measures the day before and it is the first weekend, after ten days of closure, in which bars, restaurants, shops and tourist sites they have reopened their doors to the public.

However, in places where agglomerations are promoted, such as beaches and parks, access is restricted, rules that were not respected by several Cariocas this Saturday who chose to sunbathe on the sands of the emblematic Ipanema and Copacabana.

Experts assure that the serious pandemic situation in Brazil will have a short-term impact on the health systems of Brasilia, Mato Grosso, Santa Catarina, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul, some of which have already collapsed and others on the brink of crisis.

According to a study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the largest medical research center in Latin America, the next few days will reflect in hospitals and intensive care units the high rates of infections and deaths they have suffered, between late March and early April, these regions.

The delay in vaccination, which is still an ongoing process dropper in Brazil, announces a still gloomy vision of South American power.

According to the Health portfolio, more than 45 million vaccines nationwide and more than 25 million people have received doses of any of the covid-19 vaccines.

Of this total, some 19.8 million people – 9.4% of the country’s population – have received the first dose and an additional 5.5 million – 2.6% of Brazil’s total population – have already received the second. .

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