Why the president of Brazil may be facing charges due to his handling of the pandemic.
By: Raina Lath
President of Brazil - Jair Messias Bolsonaro
Jair Messias Bolsonaro is a politician and a retired military officer who was elected as Brazil’s president from January 1st of 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the conservative Social Liberal Party. He has now been Brazil’s president since then. However, recently the Brazilian Senate committee advocated President Jair Bolsonara for facing charges regarding crimes against humanity and for his response to COVID-19. His crimes against humanity include organising large gatherings of his supporters along with degrading scientists, constitutes a “crime against public health”. Whilst the president still believes he is “guilty of absolutely nothing," his rapid drop in popularity amongst the people of Brazil says otherwise.
The 11-member Brazilian Senate panel voted 7- 4 on the 27th of October to implement the charges. The investigation on how the government handled the pandemic lasted six months. Its rapporteur, Senator Renan Calheiros, asked for Bolsonaro’s indictment on allegations ranging from charlatanism and encouraging crime, the misuse of public funds and crimes against humanity.
Along with this, he promoted the use of an anti-malaria drug long after it had proven not to stop the spread of covid 19. This, therefore, encouraged people to not wear masks and created doubt about vaccines.
Bolsonaro had thwarted local authorities' limitations on activities aimed at slowing the virus' spread since the outbreak began, claiming that the economy needed to keep thriving so that the poor did not endure further suffering. An inquiry report that was produced by Brazilian lawmakers stated that he went after a policy of herd immunity. As a result, he let the virus spread across the nation, which the report later stated led to many unnecessary infections and deaths.
The 1,300 page final report recommends charges against two companies, making it 78 people in total. Charged include Bolsonaro, administration officials, dozens of the president’s allies, and the president’s three sons, who are politicians. However, the final decision on whether to proceed with most of the charges will be in the hands of Brazil’s prosecutor general named General Augusto Aras, a Bolsonaro appointee who is widely viewed as protecting the president.
President Bolsonaro with Donald Trump
Throughout this entire process, Mr. Bolsonaro has insisted that his government "did the right thing from the first moment." On top of that, a short while after the inquiry came to an end, former U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned in a statement that he supports the Brazilian leader.“President Jair Bolsonaro and I have become great friends over the past few years. He fights hard for, and loves, the people of Brazil, just like I do for the people of the United States,” Trump said. “Brazil is lucky to have a man such as Jair Bolsonaro working for them. He is a great President and will never let the people of his great country down!”
Regardless of whether the charges are filed, the president has received a lot of backlash with the current report. His approval ratings slumped ahead of the 2022 reelection campaign, largely because of the numerous deaths regarding Covid 19. So even if the charges are not placed, the president of Brazil will still have to face the elections next year.
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