Will the Coronavirus Pandemic Lead to a Political Shakeup?
In an address to the nation on Tuesday night, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro finally seemed to acknowledge the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it “the biggest challenge of our generation.”
For weeks, Bolsonaro has downplayed the crisis, dismissing it as “panic” and “hysteria,”“a small cold,” a media “trick,” and a fake emergency manufactured by his political opponents. On Sunday, he visited bustling shopping centers and said businesses should remain open, contrary to guidance from the Ministry of Health.
On Tuesday, however, his tone softened. This time, instead of arguing to protect the economy, he spoke of “saving lives without leaving jobs behind.”
“We are going to fulfill this mission while taking care of people’s health,” Bolsonaro said. “The virus is a reality.”
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil topped 8,000 on Friday, and 327 people have died. Around the world, more than 1 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, although the real number of cases is believed to be much higher.
Sources tell HuffPost Brazil, however, that Bolsonaro’s shift in rhetoric was motivated more by political considerations than by science. Bolsonaro has found himself without support, not only in the political class — something he has never tried to cultivate, and in fact has actively rejected — but also within his own government. Bolsonaro is “feeling fragile” in his position, a source close to the president said.
For the past two weeks, Brazilians isolating themselves at home have taken to their windows and balconies nightly to bang pots and pans in protest and shout “Bolsonaro out!”
“He has demonstrated that he is unfit to be president,” Maria Hermínia Tavares de Almeida, a political scientist at the University of São Paulo, told The New York Times. “He remains in power for one very simple reason: No one wants to create a political crisis to oust him in the midst of a...
