Graffiti showing a cleaner spraying viruses with the face of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro ( Reuters / Ricardo Moraes )

By Guillermo Alvarado

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, completed 1,000 days in office amid strong criticism of his administration, particularly the handling of the health crisis caused by COVID-19 and his constant threats to the democratic institutions of the South American Giant.

During the recent UN General Assembly, in the opening speech traditionally delivered by the head of state of that nation, the former army captain drew a picture of a country that does not exist and concealed the serious economic, political and social problems that corrode that society.

Brazilian analyst Emir Sader pointed out in an article published the day before in the Argentine newspaper Página 12, that during the current administration at least two million people suffered a reduction in their income and fell into poverty, a condition in which 41.1 million inhabitants are living.

Due to the erratic measures of the executive, 14.2 million workers are unemployed and food insecurity, in a country with enormous natural and human resources, grew by 33 percent since Bolsonaro took office.

Never have so many people been seen living and sleeping on the streets of big cities, Sader noted.

But perhaps nothing has been as terrible for these people as the government's abysmal management of the covid-19 pandemic, which has so far caused 21.4 million infections and almost 600,000 deaths, figures that no one imagined when the first cases were registered.

Moreover, according to data from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which is dedicated to researching health issues, Brazil ranks first in the world in proportional terms in the number of children who have died from the disease.

If the unusual number of cases has put a brutal pressure on the hospital system, pediatric centers have suffered the most from this cause.

Nevertheless, the president celebrated with his team his anniversary in power and dared to say that if in 2022 the Workers' Party, with Luis Inacio Lula da Silva at the head, returns to government, corruption will return, as if it had not been a constant during the last 33 months and 33 days.

He seems to forget the number of complaints filed against him and his family for misuse of public resources, illicit enrichment, money laundering and other serious crimes. The latest scandal involves his ex-partner, Ana Cristina Valle, and his son Carlos Bolsonaro, a legislator in Rio de Janeiro.

 This is undoubtedly the darkest period for Brazilians since the end of the military dictatorship, which will leave a shameful memory and a terrible mark for a good part of its population.