Photo: Milenio.
By María Josefina Arce
Last week, Brazil surpassed the 600 thousand deaths caused by COVID-19, amidst the ever-increasing questioning of the management of the government of President Jair Bolsonaro in the face of the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The South American nation is the second country in the world to exceed this number of deaths and the third with the highest number of confirmed cases, with more than 21 million. It is second only to the United States and India.
A large part of society blames the authorities, especially the president, who from the beginning minimized the impact of the pandemic, despite the critical health situation experienced by the country in the last year and a half.
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva has affirmed that the current tenant of the Planalto Palace has behaved genocidally in the face of COVID-19.
The truth is that although many Brazilians died every day and countless families lost one or more of their members, the president never showed the least solidarity. When, at the end of April last year, the number of deceased already exceeded five thousand, his words were: "So what? I'm sorry. What do you want me to do?
Bolsonaro forgets that he did not respect sanitary norms, organized and participated in demonstrations leaving aside the necessary social distancing and disregarded the indications of specialists and of his own Ministry of Health.
This irresponsible action, which sent the wrong message, and other questionable actions have been investigated since last April by a Senate Commission which, according to what is known, expects to release its conclusions in the second half of this month.
The investigations have revealed irregularities in a contract for the purchase of the Indian vaccine Covaxin that was never carried out, of which Bolsonaro was apparently aware.
The president also bet on ineffective remedies against COVID-19, such as chloroquine, despite the fact that they were not endorsed by international health agencies.
If the final report is approved, with a simple majority of the 11 members of the Commission, it will be sent to the Attorney General's Office, the Court of Auditors and other organizations responsible for auditing the government's actions, so that they may initiate the respective judicial investigations.
Commission instructor Renan Calheiros affirmed that the president will certainly be held accountable for multiple crimes against public health.
The government's disastrous management of the pandemic led Brazil into a critical situation. Many families are crying today for the loss of their loved ones. That is why countless voices have been raised in recent months to demand "Out with Bolsonaro."
