Brazil: Supreme Court gives green light to Copa America
Protester against the organization of the Copa America football in Brazil, June 6, 2021 in Brasilia.
AP - Eraldo Peres
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The Copa America, the football championship of South American nations, will take place.
And it will take place in Brazil from Sunday June 13.
It was justice that ruled at the end of a lively controversy.
Publicity
Read more
One senator had dubbed the
Copa America
"
the championship of death
".
The opposition appealed to the Supreme Court to prevent the competition from being held in the midst of a pandemic.
But in the end, six of the Court's eleven judges gave the green light to the Copa America in Brazilian territory, reports our correspondent in São Paulo,
Martin Bernard
.
With a few caveats, however: a magistrate spoke of the risks of a “
Copa virus
” and asked for measures to prevent the circulation of new strains.
Brazil, the second most bereaved country in the world and which records nearly 2,000 deaths per day, indeed fears the surge of a third wave even more deadly than the previous ones.
"
Without scientific basis
"
In addition, the
decision to transfer this competition
, which should have taken place in Argentina and Colombia (which withdrew due to the pandemic added to the social crisis for Colombia), to Brazil was taken "
without a scientific basis.
», Considers another judge.
He says, however, that it is not for the Supreme Court to cancel the Copa America.
As for the players of the Brazilian 11, who had outlined a movement of revolt, they finally confirmed that they would participate in the competition, from Sunday in Brasilia, against Venezuela.
This will be the 47th edition of the world's oldest football tournament between national teams since the first took place in 1916.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, known for downplaying the severity of the pandemic, immediately welcomed the Supreme Court's decision.
"We hope that it will be 11-0", he declared during his weekly intervention on the social network Facebook, in reference to the 11 magistrates of the Supreme Court.
“We will massacre Venezuela next Sunday” at the opening of the tournament in Brasilia, he added, without saying whether he intends to attend the meeting if Conmebol invites him.
and with AFP
►
To read also: Maintenance of the Copa America in Brazil: "It is to deny that there is a pandemic which is sweeping" on the country
Newsletter
Get all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Brazil
Sports
Soccer
On the same subject
International guest
Maintaining the Copa America in Brazil: "It is denying that there is a pandemic sweeping" on the country
Americas Press Review
In the headlines: strong criticism in Brazil, which will host the Copa America
Copa America in Brazil: in the face of the avalanche of criticism, the government hesitates