{"id":7126,"date":"2020-04-22T12:15:27","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7126"},"modified":"2020-04-22T12:15:27","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:15:27","slug":"just-like-trump-brazils-bolsonaro-puts-the-economy-ahead-of-his-people-during-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7126","title":{"rendered":"Just Like Trump, Brazil\u2019s Bolsonaro Puts the Economy Ahead of His People During Coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"
Brazil\u2019s President Jair Bolsonaro puts on a mask during a March news conference about the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo\/Andre Borges)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The COVID-19 coronavirus has infected more than two million people and killed more than 150,000 in almost 200 countries \u2014 figures that will be outdated by the time you read this article<\/a>. Different countries have responded to the crisis by imposing national strategies that include the shutdown of non-essential places, home confinement and physical distancing.<\/p>\n

We now know that many countries were late in imposing social distancing measures, often because the leaders of those countries failed to acknowledge<\/a> the seriousness of the problem. China and the United States have been criticized for their lax response. Brazil should also be lumped into the same category.<\/p>\n

Official figures from the Brazilian health ministry have shown a relatively small number of deaths from COVID-19 \u2014 about 2,000 people killed by the disease in a country with a population of more than 200 million. But researchers have shown Brazil is under-reporting COVID-19 infections and deaths, and that the country likely has 12 times more coronavirus cases than the official numbers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like the leaders of China and the United States did in the early stages of the outbreak, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the risks of the coronavirus. In late March, he argued<\/a>: \u201cLife must go on, employments should be kept, people\u2019s income should be preserved, so all Brazilians should go back to normal.\u201d The elderly were the most susceptible to infection, he said, so \u201cwhy should schools be closed<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Health minister was fired<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bolsonaro has opposed his own Ministry of Health\u2019s policies regarding social isolation \u2014 so much so that he fired Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta on April 16<\/a>. The final straw came after Mandetta criticized Bolsonaro when the president visited a hospital near Brasilia, but then went outside, walked among a crowd without his mask, shook hands and signed autographs.<\/p>\n

\n
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A graffiti of Brazil\u2019s President Jair Bolsonaro wearing a protective mask in Rio de Janeiro. (AP Photo\/Silvia Izquierdo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Bolsonaro, 65, said if he were infected, he would not feel anything, or he would feel symptoms similar to \u201ca little flu.<\/a>\u201d He has played up the fact that people under the age 40 are less likely to die from COVID-19, telling Brailizians that 90 per cent of \u201cus\u201d would not have any symptoms even if \u201cwe\u201d were infected.<\/p>\n

Brazilians should be careful not to spread the virus to \u201cour\u201d parents and grandparents, he conceded. If some people die, such as his mother, who is more than 90 years old, then he would say: \u201cI\u2019m sorry \u2026 that\u2019s life<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main reason why Bolsonaro thinks the elderly and people with high-risk conditions can be sacrificed for the sake of the economy is that Brazil cannot afford an increase in unemployment, poverty and hunger<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Being suddenly concerned about Brazilians\u2019 poor and unemployed is something new for the neoliberal populist president. He has been more concerned about the conservatives who support his government \u2014 including conservative Catholics and evangelicals. Bolsonaro has promised to increase Brazil\u2019s GDP, but has also backed policies favoured by his conservatives base, such as opposing gender recognition and the legalization of abortion.<\/p>\n

Why are some considered disposable?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we follow Bolsonaro\u2019s rationale, some groups should be considered disposable, particularly the very old and unhealthy people with high-risk conditions. But this eugenic view is absurd: emerging data from affected countries show that healthy young and middle-aged people are not spared by COVID-19<\/a>, and many end up in intensive care<\/a>. While Bolsonaro strongly opposes abortion, old people\u2019s deaths from COVID-19 seem to be quite acceptable.<\/p>\n

\n
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Bolsonaro dines with U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in March 2020. It was later learned that Trump was exposed to COVID-19 during this meeting because an official in Bolsonaro\u2019s entourage had the disease. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, was elected in 2018 with a strong majority<\/a> after campaigning as a \u201cdefender of freedom.\u201d He has often been described as the South American version of Donald Trump<\/a>, but his anti-democracy views<\/a> have made him a political outcast. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, he appeared at a public rally where right-wing protesters were calling for an end to stay-at-home orders and a return to military rule<\/a> for the country that was a military dictatorship from 1964-85.<\/p>\n

Anti-China theories<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bolsonaro has been guided by Trump\u2019s anti-China theories about the coronavirus, presented in Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago, where the two presidents met in March<\/a>. Relations between China and Brazil have been strained \u2014 especially after one of Bolsonaro\u2019s cabinet ministers said in a tweet<\/a> the coronavirus pandemic was part of Beijing\u2019s \u201cplan for world domination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro\u2019s contrarian views about the pandemic have been questioned by Brazil\u2019s governors and municipal leaders, as well as physicians and other experts. The vast majority of Brazilians have been following the World Health Organization\u2019s recommendations of physical distancing \u2014 even criminal organizations in favelas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A coalition against Bolsonaro has been coming together, made up of ministers, governors, judges, senior civil servants, experts, journalists and citizens. This show of solidarity indicates most Brazilians are willing to pay a heavy socio-economic price for the protection of people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

But when this moment ends, what will Brazilians do? More than 55 per cent of voters backed him in 2018, but his popularity was dropping<\/a> even before the coronavirus outbreak. Will they approve of Bolsonaro\u2019s example of trying to conduct \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d during the pandemic for the sake of the economy, or will a new movement emerge that tries to address the country\u2019s abject inequality? The crisis facing Brazil may be the perfect time to rethink and rebuild the country.\"The<\/p>\n

Bruno Dupeyron<\/a>, Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina<\/a><\/em> and Catarina Segatto<\/a>, Visiting Professor, Universidade Federal do ABC<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 coronavirus has infected more than two million people and killed more than 150,000 in almost 200 countries \u2014 figures that will be outdated by the time you read this article. Different countries have responded to the crisis by imposing national strategies that include the shutdown of non-essential places, home confinement and physical distancing.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":7370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/328809\/original\/file-20200417-152585-g2xnc4.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Just Like Trump, Brazil\u2019s Bolsonaro Puts the Economy Ahead of His People During Coronavirus","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity-governance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7128,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7126\/revisions\/7128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}