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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Health and Sanitation |
|---|---|
| located: | Brazil |
| editor: | Ellen Nemitz |
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro tried to diminish the importance of the health and sanitary crisis - from the “little flu” speech to the statement that he would not take the vaccine, the chief of State overestimated the importance of economy over life and denied scientific evidence and World Health Organization protocols. His irresponsible words, though, may represent an intentional project to spread the virus.
A study led by the University of Sao Paulo and the NGO Conectas Human Rights showed that Bolsonaro may have carried on “a federal strategy of Covid-19 dissemination.” The conclusion came out after the analysis of over 3 thousand rulings published over the last year. “The timeline that we publish in this edition demonstrates the direct relation between federal normative acts, constant obstruction to local response and the propaganda against public health promoted by the federal government,” reads the report.
The study is a complete overview of the past ten months of Brazil’s official acts on issues related to the pandemic. It is not possible to reproduce everything in a few words, but there are some important highlights: more than once, Bolsonaro flirted with the idea of "herd immunity” and affirmed that only elderly people should stay at home during the pandemic; by official measures, he tried to interfere in these decisions.
Also, Bolsonaro nominated as Minister of Health a military man with no experience in the field and defended the use of medicine with no scientific evidence (such as hydroxychloroquine, the antibiotic azithromycin, and even ivermectin, administered for parasite infestation) - a “health protocol" corroborated by the Ministry of Health. Furthermore, the use of face masks was not supported by federal rulings and the vaccines' purchasing and distribution were sabotaged based on, once again, no scientific grounds.
Almost one year after the first case in the country appeared, the mistakes committed by the government keep claiming Brazilian lives, some of them due to the mere inability of providing supplies as basic as oxygen in some cities. Besides, the government has cast indigenous peoples and other vulnerable communities aside, and failed to pay proper attention to their health and ways of living.
“By removing the thesis of incompetence or negligence of the federal government, the study reveals the existence of an institutional strategy for the spread of the virus, promoted by the federal government under the leadership of the President of the Republic,” concludes the report.
The situation could be worse. The Brazil Associate Director at Human Rights Watch, Anna Livia Arida, affirmed that “The Supreme Court and other institutions have helped protect Brazilians and to block many, although not all, of Bolsonaro’s inhumane policies,” but alerted that Brazilians "need to remain vigilant.”
Meanwhile, motorcades and other peaceful protesters call for the president’s impeachment. There are around 60 requirements protocoled in Congress to warrant an impeachment of a president, but the current leader of the house, deputy Rodrigo Maia, is leaving office without accepting any. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has also received several denounces for crimes against humanity committed during his administration (including environmental crimes involving Amazon deforestation boosted by his government).
Will Bolsonaro and his group of allies be stopped and prosecuted at any point in the future?
Image by Jeso Carneiro.
