With cases rising rapidly, a military general with no medical experience leading the Ministry of Health, and a president admitting there’s no proof his preferred treatment will work, Brazil has become one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus.
As health systems, from Sao Paulo to the Amazon, strain under the growing number of cases, policy experts say there’s little hope that the country can change course when the president is one of their biggest obstacles.
“It’s unbelievable what’s happening in Brazil. When the biggest science denier in the country is the president himself, what can we scientists do?” said Natalia Pasternak, a microbiologist and researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Sao Paulo.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been among the world leaders most dismissive of the coronavirus, initially downplaying it as a “little flu,” then later responding “so what” when asked about the country’s rising death toll.
“I don’t see any hope in the short term,” Pasternak said. “I think the numbers are going to keep piling up and a lot of people are going to die until we solve the political situation.”
‘A grave situation’
The World Health Organization (WHO) now considers South America the new epicentre of the pandemic, in large part because this week Brazil overtook the United Kingdom for third place in the overall number of COVID-19 cases.
Brazil has more than 310,000 cases and more than 20,000 deaths, according to statistics kept by Johns Hopkins University. The country’s Ministry of Health believes the numbers are likely higher because of a lack of effective testing.
WATCH| Bolsonaro minimizes COVID-19 surge in Brazil, promotes hydroxychloroquine:
The number of coronavirus cases is surging in Brazil, but President Jair Bolsonaro continues to minimize the situation. Bolsonaro is also advocating the use of hydroxychloroquine, an unproven treatment also promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump. 2:01
“Are people dying? Yes they are, and I regret that. But many more are going to die if the economy continues to be destroyed because of these (lockdowns),” Bolsonaro said earlier this month.
On Thursday, Brazil reported more than 18,500 infections, while also suffering a record 1,188 daily coronavirus deaths, eclipsing its previous high set earlier in the week.
“It’s a very grave situation,” said Humberto Costa, a Brazilian senator and former health minister under former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
In Sao Paulo, the country’s largest city, fresh graves continue to be dug up in the sprawling Formosa cemetery. Health officials say they’re losing the battle against the virus and the system will be overrun. City and state officials moved holidays up from June and July to this weekend to create an extended break to encourage physical distancing.
In Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon rainforest, the mayor is warning that Indigenous tribes will be decimated by the coronavirus. Amazonas state, where Manaus is located, is one of the hardest hit regions of the country.
“I fear genocide and I want to denounce this thing to the whole world. We have here a government that does not care about the lives of the Indians,” Manaus Mayor Arthur Virgilio Neto said.
‘Politicizing the Problem’
While other countries have waited for some signs of the virus slowing down before reopening the economy, Bolsonaro has continually pushed for Brazilians to get back to work, putting him at odds with state governors and mayors trying to curb the spread through lockdowns and quarantines.
“He denies the severity of the disease and he only makes political calculations about what’s best for him,” Costa said.
Observers say Bolsonaro is thinking first about re-election in two years, promoting an economic agenda that resonates with the country’s poorest, who can’t afford to isolate themselves at home.
A health-care worker is seen at a field hospital set up to treat patients suffering from the coronavirus in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on May 12. (Amanda Perobelli/Reuters)
“He’s following his instinct that the economy needs to reopen and the country cannot face an economic crisis so deep,” said Marcio Coimbra, a political strategist in the capital, Brasilia.
“The middle class and upper class are against the president,” Coimbra said. “But on the other side, the poor people who need to work, they are there supporting the president.”
Costa said Bolsonaro’s actions now are laying the groundwork for what will happen in a few months’ time if the country’s economy continues to suffer because of lockdowns meant to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Bolsonaro “will say, ‘I told you that the virus was a little problem, the governors and mayors made the wrong measures,'” Costa said.
‘Problems at the Health Ministry’
Some of Bolsonaro’s highest profile clashes have been with his own Ministry of Health. In April, he fired Health Minister Luis Henrique Mandetta who had gained in popularity with his daily technical briefings.
His replacement, Nelson Teich, resigned last week, after refusing to promote Bolsonaro’s desire for wider use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. Interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello immediately approved the plan, going against the recommendations of WHO experts in Brazil.
WATCH | Brazil’s worsening COVID-19 crisis:
Brazil’s worsening COVID-19 crisis SUMMARY: Brazil’s already weak health-care system and an incoherent response from its political leaders to the COVID-19 pandemic have made it much more difficult for the country’s hospitals to deal with the growing number of cases, says Oliver Stuenkel, a professor and author from the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo. 6:42
“We are at war: Worse than being defeated is the shame of not having fought,” Bolsonaro wrote in a post on his official Facebook page in response to his critics.
Pazuello is a military general known as a logistics expert, with no health background. Costa said Pazuello is staffing the ministry with people with military experience, rather than health expertise, which will further hamper the country’s efforts to fight the virus.
“They are politicizing the problem, it’s not a question of science, it’s not a question of medicine, it’s just a question of politics,” Costa said.
Like his ally U.S. President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro has pushed hydroxychloroquine as a solution to the pandemic, despite admitting that there’s no proof it works.
Health policy expert Miguel Lago said Bolsonaro’s support for the drug is more about politics than medicine.
“Bolsonaro is a very smart politician and he’s trying to understand what can fit a narrative where he appears to be a great leader,” said Lago, executive director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies, a non-profit group based in Rio de Janeiro.
Hope in local governments
Lago said the only hope for Brazil’s efforts lies in state governors and local politicians ignoring directives from the president. States have enforced their own measures in defiance of Bolsonaro’s views, including mandatory masks in public and limits on traffic in major cities
“After two months, we shouldn’t be expecting anything good from the federal government in the sense we should only rely on our local governments.”
A Kambeba Indigenous woman sits as she waits to be tested for the coronavirus on the banks of the Negro river at the village Tres Unidos, Amazon state, Brazil on May 21. (Bruno Kelly/Reuters)
Impeachment has been discussed in Brazil. The speaker of the lower house, Rodrigo Maia, has more than 30 requests to remove Bolsonaro, but hasn’t acted on them.
“If he keeps delivering power for votes in Congress, he’ll be able to stay in power until the end of his term,” Coimbra said.
‘No light at the end of the tunnel’
Costa said the peak of COVID-19 cases could come sometime in the middle of June; some projections show Brazil could end up with more than 100,000 dead and more than a million people infected.
According to statistics from the Brazlian tech company Inloco, just over 42 per cent of Brazilians are practising physical distancing, down from a high of around 62 per cent around the end of March.
WATCH| Bolsonaro minimizes COVID-19 surge in Brazil, promotes hydroxychloroquine:
More than 16,000 people have died due to COVID-19 in Brazil. 0:46
Pasternak said the president’s example, holding rallies, shaking hands and hugging supporters, sends the wrong message to Brazilians who look to him for leadership. She worries about the direction the country is headed.
“I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel right now.”
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
