Night and day in South America: Buenos Aires welcomes nightlife, new locks in Brazil

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – In Buenos Aires on Friday night, the doors of the Colón Theater reopened for the first time in a year since closing due to the coronavirus pandemic, a sign of how Argentina’s capital is slowly dropping its hair once again.

In neighboring Brazil, however, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have gone in the direction of the opposition, both announcing tighter restrictions this week, a reflection of how the two regional powers are on completely different paths to fight against. the virus.

“It makes me very happy, we have to go back to the theater, we have to lose our fear,” Fanny Mandelbaum, a local Argentine journalist attending the inaugural concert of the famous opera, told Reuters. “It’s so satisfying to be in a room and share your culture with other people.”

The opera’s symbolic opening, which dates back to 1857 – albeit in a different building – comes right on the heels of the capital’s moviegoers who were able to return to theaters earlier this month.

Authorities also relaxed restrictions allowing restaurants and bars to stay open later, with dining inside, reigniting the buzz in the city which has seen one of the longest and longest lockdowns. difficult in the area last year.

But in Brazil, the state of Sao Paulo imposed a partial lockdown this week, underlining growing concerns about an increase in new infections. Rio de Janeiro, meanwhile, adopted new restrictions, including a nighttime curfew.

“We have reached a serious moment in the pandemic. The coronavirus variants are hitting us aggressively, ”Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said on social media.

The divergence of the region’s urban night revelers illustrates the different trajectories Argentina and Brazil are following in the race to tame COVID-19, even as vaccination programs suffer delays.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has long sought to lessen the severity of the virus, while Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has taken a stronger stance.

Claudio Mendez, Argentinian director of the operator of the Cinepolis cinema chain, said that as the vaccines roll out, they hope cinemas could return to normal after an incredibly difficult year.

“It was an unimaginable situation even in the worst horror movie,” he said. “We think as the vaccination process goes on … movie premieres will start to go more normally.”

Back at the Colón Theater, many musicians were still playing with their masks on, while the wind instrument players were inside see-through booths to avoid the potential spread of the virus. The public was subjected to temperature control and the seats were distributed.

“We had to go home and today was the day,” said María Victoria Alcaraz, general manager of the opera. “The spirit was to reopen the doors as soon as possible so that the public and the artists could find each other.”