Calls for Bolsonaro’s impeachment
On Sunday, the day Brazil hit the half-million mark in confirmed Covid-19 cases and inched closer to 30,000 deaths, President Jair Bolsonaro flew in a camouflaged military helicopter over a rally in the capital, Brasilia, waving to protesters who held banners calling for the closure of the country’s congress. He landed and greeted supporters, shaking hands and carrying a young boy on his shoulders. The farRight leader didn’t wear a mask and neither did his fans, even as face coverings are mandatory in Brasilia. As Brazil’s coronavirus crisis deepens, Bolsonaro continues to downplay the pandemic, igniting widespread prodemocracy movements that are fuelling a push for his impeachment. ‘‘The president cannot continue to put people’s lives at risk with his irresponsible handling of the Covid crisis,’’ Monica de Bolle, a Brazil specialist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said on her YouTube channel. ‘‘We must find a solution to control a president who is a harmful force on many different levels; if impeachment is an option, we have a democratic system that offers that possibility.’’ Brazil now has the fourth-highest number of deaths in the world because of Covid-19. Only the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy have tallied more fatalities. Latin America’s largest economy reported 1262 new deaths on Tuesday, a record that brought the total toll to 31,199, according to the Brazilian Health Ministry.