The vice president of Brazil blamed the people for the …

Amid the health collapse Brazil is going through, with record coronavirus deaths and a sustained rise in infections, Retired Vice President and General Hamilton Mourao blamed the people for the advance of the pandemic on Monday by stating that Brazilians have the “nature” of not “playing by the rules”.

“Our people don’t like to play by the rules, it’s not in the nature of our people. Our people are more libertarian, they like to walk in the street, to have parties. And when for two or three months you cannot enjoy these pleasures of life, few people endure them, ”Mourao told a group of journalists on Monday. without making any criticism of the disastrous management of the pandemic that the government of Jair Bolsonaro has been demonstrating for more than a year.

On Monday, the main Brazilian president began a second round of consultations with doctors, under pressure from his center-right allies in Congress in the face of the critical situation due to the coronavirus, to change the command of the Ministry of Health, who since May has been in charge of the general in activity Eduardo Pazuello.

Pazuello took office shortly after the virus arrived in the country, following the resignation of two health ministers who have defended quarantines and the use of masks. The general’s role has blurred amid the health collapse and even the minister is under investigation for lack of oxygen in Manaus in mid-January, which resulted in the deaths of patients. hospitalized for covid-19.

However, Mourao defends General Pazuello and on Monday, he assured that “thanks to highly criticized management, the minister has shown resilience and the ability to resist criticism”. Finding a successor, said the vice-president, is difficult “because of the characteristics of Brazil, of this virus, because of the way it has been handled. It is very difficult for someone to fix everything overnight. next day”.

Pazuello denied his resignation

This Sunday, General Pazuello has denied his resignation and said he will remain in office until the president decides, in a message his press office sent to CNN Brazil.

However, the government said in a statement that Bolsonaro spoke that day at the official residence with the cardiologist Ludhmila Hajjar, a critique of the official handling of the pandemic and in favor of quarantines and restriction measures to stop infections.

The change of health ministry is publicly defended by the government’s main partner, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, of the Progressive Conservative Party and leader of the right-wing sector known as “Centrao”.

Anyway, Pazuello exit operation must not erode Bolsonaro military base, analysts say, who since the start of the pandemic has lost two health ministers – Luiz Mandetta and Nelson Teich – because they opposed Bolsonarist policies not to promote social distancing or the use of masks and instead bet on natural immunity.

According to specialists, the influence of the appearance of the opposition Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – vaccinated this weekend – on the national scene after their cancellation is notorious, in a decision which must be ratified by the plenary session of the Supreme Court, the two convictions for Operation Lava Jato because these cases had no connection with deviations from Petrobras.

Coronavirus in Brazil

Brazil, with 278,000 deaths, is the second country with the most deaths from the coronavirus, surpassed only by the United States. In the last 24 hours, 43,812 infections and 1,127 deaths have been recorded.

The pandemic, there, is in full ascending phase, in part because of the circulation of new strains of the virus such as the variant originating in the Amazon and which, according to the researchers, is three times more contagious than the original.

In addition, the health crisis has intensified in recent days and at least 13 states are with the hospital system above 80% of bed occupancy.

São Paulo, the state hardest hit by the pandemic and the most populous, began the emergency phase on Monday with a quarantine without shops or offices, except for essential activities, without face-to-face lessons or the use of parks, squares or beaches.