October 26, 2021

Bolsonaro faces criminal accusations for mismanagement of pandemic

topic:	Political violence
located:	Brazil
editor:	Ellen Nemitz

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has spread fake news. The coronavirus vaccine is one of the president’s main targets in his false stories. When he once claimed that "getting a jab could turn you into an alligator" it became a joke, and many people now use this as a symbol on social media when they actually get the vaccine as a way of protesting against his lies.

Last week, though, he used his live transmission to spread another piece false information: that vaccines would cause Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS.

Scientists ran to social media to deny that any vaccine could have this effect. The UK government also stated that the information - which supposedly originated there - was false and that all vaccines are safe.

Facebook and Instagram removed the content from their platforms, explaining that the company's policies do not allow the spread of misinformation about vaccines. Fortunately, Brazilians are more keen to get a vaccine than the world average, and while the majority of people may not believe this absurdity, spreading this kind of fake news, in a world with a rising anti-vaccination movement, could be considered more than an irresponsibility: it can be called a crime. 

This is a crime which Bolsonaro and his government have committed several times during the pandemic, as concluded by the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee created to investigate the mishandling of the pandemic. The final document of more than one thousand pages finds evidence from 65 broadcasted meetings over nearly six months and compiles the main infringements by the Bolsonaro administration. 

The report was based on several testimonies from former health ministers, scientists, physicians and other witnesses. It includes falsehoods defended by the government, such as "herd immunity" and the supposed "early treatment," the deliberate delay in purchasing vaccines already offered to the country, the corruption case in the purchase of Covaxin doses, the deleterious impact of the COVID-19 on indigenous, black peoples and women and the spreading fake news and misinformation. 

It also spotlights the tragic case of the Amazonas state, which ran out of medical oxygen in the beginning of the year, and the Prevent Senior scandal, among other extreme situations that helped Brazil surpass 600,000 deaths from COVID-19 - many of which could have been avoided with a correct management of the pandemic, specialists say. 

Yet the report acknowledges that Bolsonaro did not act alone - it exposes secondary actors too, such as digital influencers, the pharmaceutical industry, other politicians, enterprises and healthcare professionals who acted to the detriment of the country.

The report’s conclusion is that Bolsonaro committed 20 crimes, including attempted murder, fraud, corruption, genocide and crimes against humanity. The investigation was just the first step; competent institutions are now expected to use the information to charge the president. Whether they will actually proceed with criminal investigations and hold the president and the other actors accountable is to be seen.

Photo by Maria Fernanda Pissioli

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