The confusion is great under the sky of Brasilia. While the dead and those infected with the coronavirus are growing exponentially, President Jair Bolsonaro unleashes his arsenal of weapons of mass distraction to divert attention from the announced catastrophe.
Instead of focusing on fighting the virus, the president has stepped up his campaign in recent days absurd statements e political maneuvers to get rid of uncomfortable allies. On the day that Brazil surpassed China in the number of deaths, she minimized: “So what? I'm sorry, but what do you want me to do? I am the Messiah (his middle name is Messias, ed), but I don't work miracles ”.
A few days later in a Facebook post, later deleted, Bolsonaro has accused the WHO of encouraging masturbation and homosexuality among children. A full-blown fake news that shows the Bolsonarist modus operandi online since the days of the 2018 electoral campaign: to confuse to distract.
The president is not alone in this operation virtual war against everything and everyone. Also on social media, Education Minister Abraham Weintraub lashed out at China, accusing it of using the virus to "dominate the world". To make fun of the Chinese, the post was written by replacing all the letters R with L.
Statements which naturally triggered a harsh reaction from Beijing, Brazil's main trading partner, but which go hand in hand with those of Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo, according to whom the Chinese plan to implement the “comunavirus”, the communist virus, all over the world.
In between conspiracy theories, Bolsonaro is off on the road across the country a make rallies causing gatherings of supporters. The latest episode took place on Thursday in Porto Alegre. Actions that contrast with the recommendations on social distancing by the Ministry of Health himself.
By discrediting the entire scientific community and denying the dramatic news arriving from Europe and the United States, the president continues to believe the coronavirus is a simple "fever" to be treated with chloroquine. Yet even Donald Trump has recognized the gravity of the Brazilian situation. “I hate to say it, but Brazil is way up, the graph is way, way up. Up there, almost vertical. The Brazilian president is my friend, a very good man, but they are going through a very difficult moment."
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro's behavior of not wanting to show the public the result of the two tests he was subjected to after returning from a trip to the United States in which 24 members of the presidential party tested positive is arousing suspicion. Thursday a judge gave 48 hours to publicly disclose the results of the exams.
The president has always said he tested negative, but if it turns out that he lied, his political situation would become even more complicated. From the opposition and in the media indeed the request for impeachment is becoming more and more widespread, although according to a Datafolha poll, only 45% of Brazilians are in favor and 48% against.
Even in Congress, the place where numbers really matter, there is no majority in favor of impeachment. In fact, Bolsonaro is making agreements to divide up the seats and guarantee the support of the parties of the so-called Centrão, a sort of group of leaders in a Brazilian sauce.
The move is unexpected, given that the former army captain has always ridden the anti-caste and anti-establishment wave, but it can be explained by a wind that gives signs of change in the country and with the weakening of the government caused by the spills of important pieces.
In fact, within two weeks, the president kicked out the Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta, guilty of defending measures of social isolation, and the head of the Federal Police, guilty of defending the autonomy of the corporation from political interference.
They have joined the two the resignation of Sergio Moro, the Minister of Justice and government bigwig. Moro is in fact the former judge of Lava Jato, the green-gold Mani Pulite, and gave legitimacy to the government in the fight against corruption.
Farewells that would have enormous political repercussions in a normal situation, let alone in times of covid-19. And which have also served to divert much of the attention and energy in the fight against the pandemic.
All this happens while Imperial College London advises that Brazil has the highest rate of infection in the world – each patient infects 2,8 others – and that next week there will be another 5.580 deaths, 797 a day, practically the same levels recorded in Italy at the peak of the crisis.
Currently the official victims are over 6 thousand (more than China) and 87 thousand infected, but since there is no massive testing policy, the real numbers would be much higher. Some experts calculate the number of infected people at 1 million.
The images of the mass graves arriving from Manaus and of the bodies abandoned in the corridors of the Barra da Tijuca hospital in Rio de Janeiro speak for themselves. Brazil, with 209 million inhabitants, is on the way to one of the highest death tolls in the world.
On the other hand, the former health minister Mandetta had warned: “I don't think Bolsonaro is firing me. He's firing science".
