Brazil has become the epicenter of the pandemic, surpassing 300,000 deaths in total and more than 3,000 deaths daily despite the insistence of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters in acknowledging the gravity of the situation. In fact, until recently Bolsonaro called COVID-19 a “little flu” and made access to vaccines difficult, refusing offers to buy millions of doses and greatly delaying the start of vaccination in Brazil.

Since he was elected, Bolsonaro has adopted the discourse that he can’t carry out his reforms because he is hindered by the judiciary, the Supreme Court in particular, which would even have prevented him from acting against the pandemic, a fake news item widely disseminated by the president and his supporters as a way to mask the incompetence of the government in containing the pandemic—or even the alleged support of Bolsonaro and allies in its spread, which has already yielded a request to open proceedings for genocide in the International Criminal Court.

Full article at Latino Rebels’ website. Date of publication: 02/04/2021.