RIO DE JANEIRO, May 2 — Rarely have two words ignited such a firestorm of controversy. “So what?” said Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday when a journalist asked him about the fact that more than 5,000 Brazilians had died of the coronavirus. The far-right leader’s off-the-cuff...
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro's latest remark sparked such a fury because Brazil is facing a seemingly uncontrollable outbreak of the disease and is still several weeks away from the peak of the pandemic, with a death toll that threatens to surpass even the most dire predictions. — Reuters pic“So what?” said Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday when a journalist asked him about the fact that more than 5,000 Brazilians had died of the coronavirus.
There have been more than 91,000 officially confirmed cases so far but scientists warn the real figure could be 15 to 20 times higher. Wilson Witzel, the governor of Rio de Janeiro state, called the president’s remarks “absolutely unacceptable.” “Get out of your Brasilia bubble,” he retorted, urging Bolsonaro to visit hospitals “in this country which is crying for its dead and infected.”
Bolsonaro “shows very little sensitivity to the tragedies that the families of those directly affected by the pandemic are going through,” said Lucio Renno, director of the Institute of Political Science at Brasilia University.It is a style that inevitably draws comparison with Bolsonaro’s own role model, US President Donald Trump.
In a tactic he has honed since becoming president, Bolsonaro quickly went on the offensive in the face of criticism from the governors and mayors, whom the Supreme Court has granted the power to call the shots in the fight against the pandemic.
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