Brazil and the Coronavirus: Authoritarianism and Denial Policy

Text by: Achim Lippold Follow

Brazil represents a singular case in the management of this planetary crisis. While the peak of the epidemic is not expected there until June-July 2020, its far-right president Jair Bolsonaro continues to deny its existence, calling the Covid-19 "a little flu". By regularly attacking the World Health Organization and even its own Minister of Health (which he finally got rid of in the middle of a health crisis), he presents himself as hostile to all confinement.

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In this country of 210 million inhabitants, the crisis is managed by powerful governors and mayors, many of whom adopt measures contrary to the recommendations of the president. To this tension between federal and regional power is added an unprecedented political crisis since Jair Bolsonaro came to power. Without a majority in Congress, the president has become accustomed to participating in demonstrations which advocate the abolition of Congress and the Supreme Court, and therefore in a way a return to military dictatorship. Voices multiply to demand his resignation.

• " A little crisis "

It is during the carnival period that the coronavirus appears in Brazil, and more generally in South America. The first case was diagnosed on February 25, 2020 , a 61-year-old man returned from a stay in Italy. Three days later, the Ministry of Health launched an information campaign on television, radio and social networks, asking the population to apply good practices - such as washing their hands or not exchange personal items.

On March 10 , when the country officially listed dozens of cases, including for the first time cases that were not imported from abroad, Jair Bolsonaro denied that the coronavirus could kill. According to the far-right president, the media exaggerate the danger: "  We are going through a small crisis  ". A day later, March 11, the World Health Organization declares the coronavirus “  pandemic  ”. President's reaction: “  No, I don't believe it….  Faced with the denial of federal power, the governors then decided to act and take their own measures, even without the support of the president.

• Jair Bolsonaro suffering from coronavirus?

First twist in the political management of the crisis: on March 12, we learn that a member of the entourage of Jair Bolsonaro, who had met a few days earlier the American President Donald Trump in Miami, tested positive at Covid-19 . The coronavirus reaches the top of the state. The president in turn lends himself to a screening test, the results of which are negative. At least that is what he officially declares, while some media claim the opposite. Until today ( May 11, 2020 ), Jair Bolsonaro has never released the results of his tests. The health of the president becomes the subject of a legal arm of iron: the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo demand to have access to test results. The justice of Sao Paulo gives him reason, but the lawyer general of the Union (which represents the government) appeals. He considers that there is no legal obligation to provide the results of the test. On May 6, an appellate court asked Jair Bolsonaro to officially publish the results of his examination. The federal judge's injunction fell when we learned that the government spokesman, former general Otavio Rêgo Barros, was also affected by Covid-19.  

• Not everyone is equal in the face of coronavirus

When Cleonice Gonçalves made the headlines, she was already dead. This domestic worker, a 63-year-old African-Brazilian suffering from hypertension, died on March 17 . He is the first person to die from coronavirus in Rio de Janeiro, the fifth in Brazil, and his case is emblematic of the social inequalities that the pandemic continues to widen. This housekeeper was infected by her boss, a wealthy "Carioca" who had not seen fit to warn her of her exposure to the coronavirus during a trip. The case triggers an avalanche of messages on social networks and reinforces the perception, very widespread in Latin America, that the Covid-19 was imported by the rich but that it is the poor who will die from it.

A few days later, a first case was detected in the Cidade de Deus favela, City of God. The NGOs are sounding the alarm, because nearly a quarter of the inhabitants of Rio (more than a million people) live in the slums, in precarious sanitary conditions. Fears justified, because the black population will be hit hard by the pandemic. According to official data revealed by the press on May 6 , in Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the epidemic, the risk of dying from Covid-19 is 62% higher for Afro-descendants than for whites. Majority in this State, they suffer from more precarious living conditions: poor access to care, very exposed jobs, makeshift housing where it is impossible to respect basic sanitary measures.

• The battle around containment

On March 24 , confinement began in the megalopolis Sao Paulo, which then killed 15 people. The quarantine first decreed for two weeks is however less drastic than that put in place in most European countries or in Argentina. Shops and all non-essential services close but traffic is allowed. However, local authorities recommend that people stay at home. Like French President Emmanuel Macron, Governor Joao Doria adopts a muscular tone by declaring: "  These are not holidays, we are at war  ". Rio de Janeiro State Governor Wilson Witzel, a friend of Jair Bolsonaro, is taking similar action.

The president's reaction was quick, it came on the same day that confinement began in these cities. And she is scathing. "  The authorities of certain states and municipalities must give up the concept of scorched earth: the ban on transport, the closing of shops and mass containment  ," says Jair Bolsonaro, then describing the coronavirus as "  small flu  ".

These words are greeted by saucepan concerts across the country (which will be repeated after each presidential address). Political actors and health officials denounce irresponsible behavior. Showbiz personalities are mobilizing on social networks to ask people to stay at home, "fique en casa" then becomes one of the most shared hashtags.

It is justice which is ultimately responsible for enforcing the confinement instructions. On March 27, 2020, judge Marcio Santoro Roch quashed a decree from President Jair Bolsonaro, published the day before, which excluded churches, religious temples and lottery offices from quarantine measures imposed in certain states.

► Read also: Coronavirus: Brazilian justice prohibits the government from advocating non-containment

The battle over health measures continues on social networks. In turn Twitter, Facebook and Instagram delete tweets from Jair Bolsonaro in which he questions the confinement. According to Twitter, he “  broke the rules  ” of this social network. The Brazilian president had published three videos on his account which showed him walking through the streets of the capital Brasilia, chatting with people. An attitude in total contradiction with the instructions given by his own government to avoid the spread of Covid-19.

The opposition, which has struggled to be heard since the start of the crisis, increases the tone. In a manifesto, the main personalities of the Brazilian left demand the resignation of the president of the far right, whose behavior is considered "  irresponsible  ". March 31 Jair Bolsonaro changes his tone a little (no doubt on the advice of the soldiers around him): he admits that Covid-19 constitutes "  the greatest challenge  " posed to his generation, but specifies that the fight against the pandemic must not harm the economy.

• Cries of alarm

On April 1, the country recorded the first case of coronavirus in a Native American community, a young woman of 20 who lived near the border with Colombia. In the indigenous villages there is panic. The approximately 900,000 Amerindians are considered the most vulnerable group to the Covid-19. "  If ever a community is affected by the virus, it could simply be exterminated,  " said a Guarani leader to the newspaper Estado de Minas . It is to raise international awareness of the plight of the indigenous peoples of Brazil and to put pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro that photographer Sebastiao Salgado launched on May 3 an online petition signed by stars like Brad Pitt, Madonna or Meryl Streep. "  Native Americans are at risk of being decimated by Covid-19 if urgent measures are not taken to protect them,  " explains the Brazilian artist in a video.residing in Paris.

It is in this context that falls on April 17 a historic decision of justice intended to protect the Amerindians (and not only of the coronavirus). A judge forbids a group of evangelical missionaries from approaching the indigenous peoples of the Amazon.

► Read also: Coronavirus: a Brazilian judge forbids missionaries from approaching the peoples of the Amazon

The Brazilian press publishes other poignant testimonies like that of a son who witnessed the death of his father, the first death linked to the coronavirus in the state of Alagoas (in the northeast of the country). "  My father died because he is poor  ": the son recounts his obstacle course to find a place in a resuscitation room. Four days of effort, without success and therefore without his father being able to receive adequate care in the end. "  If he had been able to go to a hospital equipped for intensive care, my father would not have died,  " says the man, who prefers to remain anonymous.

Even more emblematic, the case of the musician and poet Aldir Blanc, considered as the most famous lyricist of popular Brazilian music. This former voice of opposition to the dictatorship, author of some of the most popular songs in the country, was admitted to intensive care only after a national mobilization of her artist friends. On May 4, he died of Covid-19 in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro.

In early April, Brazilian NGOs also sounded the alarm for the favelas. Health prevention remains complicated in these poor and overcrowded neighborhoods, as shown in the report by our correspondent in Rio de Janeiro, Sarah Cozzolino.

But it is another cry of alarm coming from Brazil which will eventually resound around the world, thanks to the international press. On April 19 , the mayor of Manaus denounces a catastrophic situation in an interview with the Folha de Sao Paulo. The capital of the Amazon experiences scenes worthy of a horror film, he says. The high number of deaths forced the authorities to bury the victims in mass graves. The aerial photos showing the arrival of the coffins go around the world. Arthur Vigilio Neto ends up appealing for help to the international community, he explains himself in an interview with RFI, with our correspondent in Sao Paulo, Martin Bernard .

• From the health crisis to the political crisis

On April 16, the coronavirus made its first political victim. Popular health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta says he was sacked by Jair Bolsonaro. He totally disagreed with the president on how to fight the coronavirus. Unlike the head of state, the minister, a former doctor, has always advocated confinement in an attempt to stem the epidemic. According to Correio Braziliense , the meeting during which Jair Bolsonaro dismissed Luiz Henrique Mandetta was tense. The minister is said to have told the president that he would be held responsible for all deaths from the coronavirus if he relaxed the containment measures. To which the president would have replied: not me, the governors.

But it is the resignation of another minister that shakes the government. On April 24 , thunderclap in Brasilia: the Minister of Justice Sergio Moro , the former judge in charge of the anti-corruption investigation Lava Jato, resigns. Very popular in Brazil, the one who put ex-president Lula in prison accuses Jair Bolsonaro of political interference. The president is said to have asked him to change the director general of the federal police (who is under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice) to place a family member. The objective, according to Sergio Moro, was to get hold of the ongoing investigations and especially those that target the entourage of the president, including two of his sons for embezzlement and corruption. Serious accusations that have legal consequences: three days after the resignation of Sergio Moro, a judge of the Supreme Court authorizes the opening of an investigation into the accusations of the former minister.

► Read also: Political crisis in Brazil: open investigation into Moro's accusations against Bolsonaro

• The authoritarian temptation

It has almost become a habit: on several occasions, President Jair Bolsonaro joins the demonstrators who, flouting the rules of confinement, meet in Brasilia to demand the end of the confinement and a military intervention. The first of these rallies takes place on April 19. Massed in front of the army headquarters, the participants demanded the application of AI-5, a decree which in 1968 imposed the closure of the Congress and removed many constitutional rights. The image of Jair Bolsonaro, standing on a pick-up, goes around social networks. We see the president without mask coughing in his hand, towards his sympathizers.

► Read also: In the midst of his supporters, Bolsonaro once again denounces confinement in Brazil

The president's participation in this gathering of those nostalgic for the dictatorship aroused general outcry. The governors and leaders of Congress demand respect for democracy. According to an Atlas politico poll, 54% of Brazilians support the removal of Jair Bolsonaro. But according to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, targeted by the sympathizers of the president, such a procedure is not on the agenda. According to some journalists, the attitude and words of Jair Bolsonaro even make the soldiers uncomfortable.

• Despite opposition from the president, the country remains in quarantine

As the pandemic spreads at high speed, the president continues to make headlines with more and more incredible words. When the country crosses 5,000 deaths on April 28 , he shrugged, "  So what? What do you want me to do ? I am sorry, I am a messiah, (allusion to his middle name Messias,) but I do not do miracles  ”. These words arouse dismay even among some of his political allies. Folha de Sao Paulo , based on a study by Imperial College London, reports that Brazil has the highest infection rate in the world. But the president continues to downplay the impact of the Covid-19. On May 5 , he explains to the press that the "  worst of the coronavirus crisis  " has passed. Moments later, the government announced the death of 600 people in 24 hours, a new record. This brings the number of people who died from the coronavirus to almost 8,000. A pandemic that could destroy the Brazilian economy , causing food shortages and even social "  disintegration  ", warns the ultra-liberal Minister of the Economy Paulo Guedes on May 7 .

On May 9 , Brazil crossed the symbolic milestone of 10,000 dead . The authorities officially count 155,939 cases, but this figure is, according to experts, very far from the reality: it could be 15 to 20 times higher because in fact very few tests are carried out (only for people with severe symptoms ). The Supreme Court decrees a three-day mourning in tribute to the victims of Covid-19. While the country is only at the beginning of a "  big wave of infections  " according to an epidemiologist, President Jair Bolsonaro, once again defying the confinement instructions, is filmed in the middle of a jet ski session on a lake near Brasilia. Previously he had announced that he was organizing a barbecue for three thousand people in his presidential residence, but before the outcry he finally gave up on this idea.

Others still openly defy containment, such as the hundreds of far-right activists who, under the name of "The 300 of Brazil", set up a training camp in front of the Parliament in Brasilia. Their goal: to learn tactics to “exterminate” the left, among other things, according to the newspaper O Globo.

This Monday, May 11, the quarantine in Sao Paulo, economic lung of the country and epicenter of the pandemic (one third of the deaths linked to Covid-19 in the country), had to be lifted. But faced with the progression of the coronavirus, the governor of the state Joao Doria decided to extend the containment measures for the 46 million inhabitants. Other large cities like Fortaleza in the northeast have opted for even stricter containment, drastically reducing the flow of people. In the state of Rio de Janeiro, the wearing of masks on public transport has been compulsory since May 8.

It is difficult to say how the coming weeks and months will go on in health and political terms. The peak of the pandemic is expected for June or July next. And it is a deeply divided country facing this crisis. Part of the elite, like Jair Bolsonaro, continues to deny the severity of the pandemic. "  Being part of the upper class, they believe they are untouchable,  " says psychoanalyst Christian Duncker in the newspaper El Pais  : "  These people refuse to face reality. For them, the imperative is to revive the economy, believing that in any case they will not be among the victims  ”.

But the president can also count on the support of the poorest who remain loyal to him (and who also support economic reopening because they often depend on informal trade). Hence this figure which may seem surprising: according to a Datafolha survey of April 28 , 33% of those questioned have a good or very good opinion of President Jair Bolsonaro.

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