Crisis, what crisis? Brazil’s flippant “messiah”
Brazil’s far-right president is leading his country into “utter chaos”, said Lucas Menget in France 24 (Paris). Jair Bolsonaro has long denied the dangers of Covid-19: he has addressed crowds; shaken hands with supporters; railed against social-distancing measures; and told people to return to work. Now, the country’s death toll is soaring. The official total has already hit 7,000; and Brazilian media say the real figure may be three times higher. Hospitals are overwhelmed, and bodies are being buried in mass graves. Yet Bolsonaro has the gall to joke about the crisis, said Bernardo Mello Franco in O Globo (Rio de Janeiro). Asked by reporters about the soaring death rate, he replied: “So what? I’m sorry, but what do you want me to do about it? My name’s Messiah [in reference to his second name, Messias], but I don’t perform miracles.” Disturbingly, he also recently joined a rally in which supporters agitated for a military coup to install him as dictator.
Bolsonaro had already sparked anger last month by firing his respected health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, and replacing him with an advocate of reopening the economy. He has lost his popular justice minister too, said Folha de São Paulo. Sérgio Moro quit after clashing with the president over the sacking of Brazil’s federal police chief. Moro alleged that Bolsonaro “interfered” with police investigations for political gain; Brazil’s supreme court has now launched an investigation into the claims. The president’s sons are in the firing line too, said Colm Quinn in Foreign Policy (Washington). Two of them have been implicated in an alleged campaign to discredit judges through the dissemination of “fake news”, and a third has been accused of profiting from “illegal construction by militia groups using public money”.
Bolsonaro’s grip on power could now be slipping, said André Gustavo Stumpf in Correio Braziliense (Brasília). He has no majority in Congress, and his survival depends on the speaker not bringing forward impeachment requests. Former supporters in the military are growing restless, and the departure of Moro (a hero on the right for his role in the huge “Car Wash” anti-corruption probe that put scores of politicians and businessmen behind bars) is a serious blow. But the president may yet escape the “dustbin of history”, said Benito Perez in Le Courrier (Geneva). As long as his base support of 30% of voters remains firm, Congress will be reluctant to launch impeachment proceedings. For now, it looks as if Brazil will have to weather the coronavirus storm with Bolsonaro at the helm.