The country of the samba is no longer at the party. While America has become the new epicenter of the pandemic, according to the WHO, Brazil is attracting all the attention and concern.
Where is the Brazilian giant? This June 29, the country of samba is the second country most affected by the pandemic behind the United States. It has 1,355,143 confirmed cases (i.e. 13% of global cases) and 57,622 deaths (i.e. 11% of global deaths) out of nearly 210 million inhabitants. In relation to the population, Brazil has 275 deaths per 1 million inhabitants, which is less than most European countries (Belgium, United Kingdom and especially France). However, the high rate of confirmation of new cases is alarming. While more than 80,000 cases were recorded each day in April, the number of new contaminations continued to increase until it reached a peak on June 26 at 191,700 cases of Covid-19 recorded that day. The pandemic seems out of control.
During a round table organized by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assemblythis June 25, the professor of global health ethics at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Deisy Ventura described the situation as “preventable carnage” and believes that the Native American peoples of the Amazon are undergoing a “genocide“lack of access to care.”Brazil has a unique healthcare system [NDRL: par rapport aux autres pays du continent sud-américain] it provides for universal access to the public health system and considers it a right linked to citizenship and this has been enshrined in the Federal Constitution” she assures the French deputies.
Yet, according to her, Brazilian policies have weakened this system, in particular by imposing economic austerity measures to limit “its chronic funding shortfall” in “setting a ceiling on public health spending from 2017“According to the researcher, these measures have stopped or weakened”the most effective health programs of the single health system.”
President accused of waging a ‘political war’
But the poor economic health of Brazilian public hospitals alone cannot explain the confusion that reigns in the country. President Jair Bolsonaro who called Covid-19 a “small flu“is accused of minimizing the seriousness of the pandemic. Despite alerts from the WHO or the international community, Jair Bolsonaro like Donald Trump, politicizes the health crisis… against the advice of his own advisers. After the resignation of two ministers of health, he placed a soldier – without recognized medical skills – at the head of the ministry of health.”The reality of the pandemic was revealed very early by experts in Brazilrelates Olivier Dabène, President of the Latin American and Caribbean Political Observatory of CERI (Sciences-Po). Only President Bolsonaro has denied it, for two main reasons: his religious beliefs, which lead him to give no credit to science, and his desire not to slow down the slow economic recovery which was scheduled for 2020.“
From then on, the Federal President seems to be carrying out a “political war“against the governors of the Brazilian federated states who are trying to put in place social distancing measures or encourage the wearing of masks. He does not hesitate to contradict them and push the population not to respect health measures to limit the crisis.
This political crisis seems to be turning into a vast legal affair. “The Supreme Court recognized […] in its decision of April 15, 2020 the competence of governors and mayors to legislate on the matter. This is a political confrontation whose main issue is the economic and even electoral impacts of the containment measures.explains Deisy Ventura. The political tension in Brazil is maximum and unfortunately the governors seem to give in to certain pressures.“The researcher counts nearly 3,000 legal cases related to Covid-19 presented to the country’s Supreme Court. She is concerned about the long-term effects of this legalization of health in Brazil. “Ccertain judicial decisions allow derogation to payment salary during the pandemicshe reports. Judicial spaces are transformed into battlegrounds between groups that support containment measures and those that attack them. It is too early to say in which direction this judicialization is going: towards more protection, rights and freedoms or the opposite.“
In the favelas, the curfew monitored by organized crime networks
Faced with this cacophony, the Brazilians are divided. Rumours, political fever but also dependence on an informal economic system prevent many inhabitants from limiting their movements. “The first weeks, people were disciplinedassures Christian Pouillaude, also a blogger for Courrier international interviewed by 20 minutes. After three weeks, it was starting to go all over the place…“According to Le Monde, 38 million Brazilians depend on the informal sector. The Chamber of Deputies has voted exceptional aid until July. “But dIn some neighborhoods, however, the persistence of organized crime adds to local political instability, as does the refusal of direct state intervention to help local populations.assures Olivier Debène. Three Carioca favelas thus see their curfew ensured within the framework of the quarantine by the Comando Vermelho, one of the largest organized crime networks in Brazil. At the beginning of April, the economic support voted by the Chamber had thus still not reached the Brazilian working-class neighborhoods.“Divided, Brazil seems unable to effectively organize its fight against the pandemic and yet the southern winter should set in in the coming weeks, suggesting new waves of contamination and death.
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