For Bolsonaro, the pandemic is “the law of life” …

From Brasilia

In another world. Jair Bolsonaro burst out laughing during his meeting today with a group of followers he spoke to on various topics, one of which he spent less than three minutes , was the coronavirus crisis in the state of Amazonas, where the healthcare system collapsed with patients dead due to lack of oxygen. The Brazilian president’s argument was the same as always, that there is little or nothing to do when faced with an illness that will inexorably lead to the death of the elderly or those with chronic illnesses. “It is the law of life.” In this sense, he now blames people who wait until the last minute to get to the hospital, when they feel “out of breath”. In other words, the fault lies with the patients, not the system. the hospital collapsed due to a health policy that ignored the problem.

Since his meeting with Donald Trump in Florida in March, his argument, copied like so many things from his colleague, has been summed up in a few diminutives: Covid-19 is a “flu”, a “cold”. In April, members of the Brazilian government predicted the pandemic had its days numbered. This Friday, he retraced his steps by declaring, angrily, “it is not I who spoke about the flu”, and accused the press of distorting his words. But videos of more than a dozen statements indicate that the press did not change what he said. In fact, he even said it on a solemn broadcast on the national radio and television station.

The situation in Manaus, capital of Amazonas state, is dire, he admitted. But he attributes it to the irresponsibility of the local authorities since the federal government has assumed its responsibility. The same was said yesterday by General Eduardo Pazuello, Minister of Health without medical training, as was the management of this portfolio, which has turned its back on the pandemic. Bolsonaro and Pazuello have recommended that infected people in the Amazon take hydroxychloroquine, the medicine for patients with lupus and rheumatism that was not designed for Covid-19.

As evangelical pastors tend to do, the former captain-president has a habit of quoting anecdotes of questionable veracity, designed for an audience of believers eager to trust the Bible word rather than an audience of believers. citizens. With this style, he said he contracted the virus in July and was cured with hydroxychloroquine, and that the same drug had been prescribed to two hundred officials and employees of the Planalto Palace.

The drug is not recommended for patients with coronavirus according to the World Health Organization, whose authorities have drawn attention to the pharmacological eccentricities of the rule. Human Rights Watch described him this week as someone who “sabotages” policies against the virus.

CALL FOR CONGRESS

Beyond the parallel reality of Bolonarianism, images of relatives of patients going to buy oxygen tubes (sometimes on the black market which monopolizes them) have been reproduced on local television and on world news channels.

Workers digging graves during a double shift in Manaus cemeteries have become an icon of Brazil told in newspapers such as The New York Times, The world and Corriere della Sera. Brazil is the tragedy par excellence at the global level, except in the presidential galaxy where its acolytes gravitate, who go to meet it, shouting “myth” or shouting “God be with you”.

The real events of this week have perhaps affected a part of public opinion, more or less official, which behaves with indifference in the face of the health tragedy. Because of this attitude of society and the complicity of the political right with the Planalto, none of the sixty impeachment demands presented to Congress, the last promoted by the Workers’ Party, has been successful. PT leader Gleisi Hoffmann has asked parliament for emergency sessions, not to deal with impeachment, but to deal with the pandemic. A sign that the crisis can take on another dimension.