A nation adrift under a president still in denial
With his country now at the centre of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro is in deep water
On a warm evening in São Paulo, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, held his head high and stared into the camera to address an expectant nation.
Coronavirus deaths had just ticked slowly up to 57 as millions tuned in to hear the government’s plans to combat the pandemic that was beginning to wreak havoc in Europe and the US.
What they got was a potent mix of denial and hostility. The president decried the “hysteria” of the press for spreading fear, dismissing the virus as a “little flu”. The man who came within a whisker of death just two years ago after he was stabbed on the campaign trail mustered a smirk as he claimed he would be immune from any of the disease’s severe symptoms due to his “past as an athlete”.
Two months and 340,000 official cases later, the so-called little flu has claimed the lives of at least 20,000 Brazilians, and probably many more. Over the past few days the daily death toll has topped 1,000, putting the country on the trajectory of the worst-hit countries.
Brazil is the new centre of the global pandemic, recording higher daily averages than anywhere else in the world. Bodies line up to be buried in rich-red earth mass graves under heavy skies. Hospitals are at breaking point.
But the headache doesn’t end there for Mr Bolsonaro, 65, a hard-right former army captain catapulted to power on a populist anti-corruption drive that gained him the nickname “Trump of the Tropics”.
A video was released at the weekend of a foul-mouthed rant at Mr Bolsonaro’s cabinet. He is heard demanding a clear-out of justice officials investigating his sons for alleged links to hit squads and fake news rackets. The scandal could lead to impeachment.
Under threat of political implosion and a deadly virus out of control, Mr Bolsonaro now faces the prospect of becoming known as the man who broke Brazil.
His Covid-19 strategy is without precedent. While other global leaders may be guilty of playing down the virus and poor decisions, he has doubled down on his message of denial. The
Daily Telegraph spoke to government insiders who told of growing discord in and around the Bolsonaro administration. They paint a picture of a jealous and vindictive leader at the helm of a nation in crisis.
One high-profile former cabinet member said several efforts were made within the government to establish a comprehensive social isolation policy to contain the Covid-19 spread, but Mr Bolsonaro never showed any interest: “The president always dismissed the importance of discussions about the coronavirus.”
Mr Bolsonaro has sacked two health ministers in the space of one month. Luiz Henrique Mandetta and Nelson Teich, both qualified medical professionals, were ousted after disagreeing with Mr Bolsonaro over social isolation measures and the prescription of anti-malaria drug chloroquine to treat Covid-19. Leadership of Brazil’s health ministry has been vacant for over a week.
“It’s really difficult to work under a boss like Jair Bolsonaro,” says Senator Sérgio Olímpio Gomes, a former close ally of Mr Bolsonaro, better known as Major Olímpio. “The only people who last under him are submissive.
“If anyone disagrees with him, he starts treating them as traitors.”
Major Olímpio campaigned alongside Mr Bolsonaro in the run-up to the 2018 election campaign and worked closely with him in the first year of government. But he has since fallen out with one of Mr Bolsonaro’s sons. He said the president was jealous of ex-health minister Mandetta. “Bolsonaro can’t handle anyone around him stealing his thunder”, he explains.
Mr Bolsonaro’s hot-headed reputation has been evident since he entered public life in 1988. Serving seven terms as a Congress backbencher, he stood out more for his outrageous and inflammatory outbursts to the media than his legislative prowess.
In his 27 years in Brazil’s lower house, he only successfully approved two bills. Instead, he was dedicated to causing controversy, becoming a regular guest on comedy TV shows for his propensity for offensive remarks.
During the 2018 election campaign, much was made of his army background, causing trepidation among the Left-wing, just over 30 years after Brazil emerged from a military dictatorship. Once in office, Mr Bolsonaro filled his government with representatives from the military.
He had entered the military in 1977, working his way up to captain. He left in 1988 after plotting to plant small bombs inside his army barracks in protest against low military salaries.
Just before the 2018 election, Mr Bolsonaro was stabbed in the stomach while being lifted on the shoulders of supporters in a rally in the town of Juiz de Fora. The lone-wolf attacker claimed he was working “on God’s orders”.
Matias Spektor, an associate professor at a São Paulo-based think tank, says: “Being stabbed, and surviving the stabbing, was a perfect image for him.”
Having survived the assassination attempt and going on to win the presidency, he cultivated a core group of loyal followers enamoured by the idea that he – not his attacker – is on a mission from God to “set Brazil straight”.
“He’s a great leader of the masses,” says Major Olímpio. “But he’s never had in-depth knowledge in any area.”
He famously declared he “[doesn’t] understand the economy”, delegating authority to his cabinet ministers, but reining them in at any sign of threat.
Speaking as though he is a doctor, Mr Bolsonaro has regularly recommended chloroquine, an antimalarial and the sister drug of Mr Trump’s prescription of choice,
With the president at war with state governors and the WHO over social distancing and lockdown measures, the virus has spread from the apartments of Brazil’s jet-setting elite
‘Bolsonaro is a great leader of the masses, but he’s never had in-depth knowledge in any area’
to deep into the Amazon. Jungle cities like Manaus are buckling under the pressure of spiralling death tolls and infections, while even remote indigenous tribes are recording fatalities. The virus is also claiming lives in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, while the hospitals in São Paulo are now “near collapse”, according to the mayor of the sprawling metropolis.
Already isolated from other world leaders over the deforestation of the Amazon, Mr Bolsonaro has also been placed under formal investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court. If indicted, he could be removed from office.
The probe stems from accusations of illegal meddling in the federal police, after justice minister Sérgio Moro resigned from the cabinet last month. Mr Moro claimed the president had interfered politically in the selection of the new head of the federal police.
Mr Bolsonaro’s sons – he has three in elected positions in Brazilian politics – have been targeted by a number of federal corruption probes.
The key piece of evidence is a video recording of an April 22 cabinet meeting, made public on Friday evening. In it Mr Bolsonaro rants that he “won’t wait for them to f*** over my family and friends, I’ll change everyone in security, the chief, the minister”.
In leaked Whatsapp messages with Mr Moro, the president is shown to be seeking control over the federal police in Rio de Janeiro. “You have 27 police districts, I just want one: Rio,” read one message.