Covid-19. Pandemia é teatro de guerra política no Brasil
por Carlos Santos
Neves - RTP
Do seio do
próprio Governo ao ramo legislativo de Brasília, Jair Bolsonaro abriu nas
últimas horas múltiplas frentes de conflito político num país cada vez mais atingido
pela pandemia da Covid-19. Além de substituir o ministro da Saúde, cujas
políticas, disse, estariam a potenciar o pânico entre a população, o Presidente
brasileiro lançou-se contra o presidente da Câmara dos Deputados, acusando-o de
o querer derrubar.
Ao cabo de
semanas de divergências públicas entre o titular da pasta da Saúde no Governo
Federal brasileiro e o Presidente, o ortopedista Luiz Henrique Mandetta foi
exonerado, na tarde de quinta-feira, e substituído pelo oncologista Nelson
Teich. O primeiro defendia o isolamento como medida preferencial para travar a
propagação do SARS-CoV-2, contra a vontade de Bolsonaro. O segundo assume a
pasta a defender não só o mesmo, como a massificação dos testes de despistagem
da infeção.A Organização Mundial da Saúde inclui o isolamento social entre as
medidas de combate à pandemia do novo coronavírus. No Brasil, Luiz Henrique
Mandetta advogou sempre esta via.
Ao passo que o
Presidente brasileiro não retira uma vírgula ao discurso que emprega há já um
mês, adverso a qualquer forma de confinamento, em nome do que diz ser a
necessidade de preservar as atividades económicas do país, uma fatia
considerável da classe política, desde logo no Parlamento, lamenta a ação de
Bolsonaro.
É o caso do
presidente da Câmara dos Deputados, Rodrigo Maia.
“Em nome da
Câmara dos Deputados, presto homenagem ao trabalho desenvolvido pelo ministro
Mandetta à frente da Saúde brasileira nos últimos meses. A sua dedicação,
trabalho, competência, capacidade de compreensão do problema, busca por
soluções a partir do diálogo com toda a sociedade e com o parlamento trouxeram
segurança, especialmente neste período de pandemia”, escreveu o responsável na
rede social Twitter.
Davi Alcolumbre,
presidente do Congresso e do Senado, seguiu a mesma pauta: “Luiz Henrique
Mandetta foi um verdadeiro guerreiro na saúde pública no período em que esteve
à frente do Ministério, especialmente no enfrentamento firme à Covid-19. O seu
trabalho responsável e dedicado foi irreparável. A sua saída não é positiva e
será sentida por todos nós”.
Alcolumbre
manifestou ainda a expectativa de que o substituto de Mandetta atue também “de
forma vigorosa, de acordo com as melhores técnicas científicas”.
Outra voz que se
fez ouvir foi a de Fernando Henrique Cardoso, antigo Presidente do Brasil, para
quem “o povo verá arrogância na demissão e não competência”.
“Demissão do
ministro da Saúde em má hora. Ele estava na linha de frente da batalha pela
vida. A economia conta, mas manter ou não a quarentena é decisão médica. O povo
verá arrogância na demissão e não competência. O custo político se medirá pelo
número de mortes. Tomara que não aumentem”, escreveu FHC no Twitter.
Pelo flanco do
Partido dos Trabalhadores, o ex-candidato presidencial Fernando Haddad
sustentou que, na despedida, “Mandetta defende a vida, o SUS [Sistema Único de
Saúde] e a ciência. Três palavras incompatíveis com o atual Governo”.
“A saída do
Mandetta é uma perda para o Brasil. Agradeço o apoio e contribuição com o
estado de São Paulo no combate à pandemia. Desejo êxito ao novo Ministro da
Saúde, Nelson Teich, e espero que siga procedimentos técnicos e atenda às
recomendações da OMS”, escreveu, por seu turno, o governador do Estado de São
Paulo, João Doria.
Na mesma linha, o
governador do Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, estimou que, “entre a saúde dos
brasileiros e a política, Jair Bolsonaro preferiu a política”: “Que Deus nos
ajude. Parabéns pelo belo trabalho à frente do Ministério da Saúde, Mandetta.
Nossa luta contra o coronavírus continua. Que o novo ministro siga as
orientações da OMS”.
“Parece que a
intenção é tirar-me do Governo”
O Brasil superou
ontem a marca das 30 mil pessoas infetadas pelo novo coronavírus. São agora
30.425 os casos confirmados. Há registo de 1924 mortes desde o início da
pandemia.
O novo titular da
pasta da Saúde fundou, nos anos de 1990, o Centro de Oncologia Integrado. Aqui
trabalhou até ao ano passado. Entre setembro de 2019 e janeiro de 2020,
assessorou a Secretaria de Ciência, Tecnologia e Insumos Estratégicos em Saúde,
do Ministério brasileiro da Saúde.Ao abrigo do projeto contestado por
Bolsonaro, Estados e municípios brasileiros podem ser compensados pela queda no
Imposto sobre Circulação de Mercadorias e Serviços e Imposto Sobre Serviço, dos
quais resulta boa parte das receitas estaduais e municipais.
Também na
quinta-feira o Presidente do Brasil orientou a mira para o presidente da Câmara
dos Deputados, que acusou de tentativa de o derrubar. Em causa, a aprovação de
um projeto de auxílio a Estados perante a pandemia.
“O Brasil não
merece o que o senhor Rodrigo Maia está a fazer. O Brasil não merece a péssima
atuação dele dentro da Câmara dos Deputados”, atirou Bolsonaro.
“Não estou a
romper com o Parlamento. Muito pelo contrário, é a verdade que tem de ser
dita”, afirmou em entrevista à CNN Brasil.
E continuou:
“Parece que a intenção é tirar-me do Governo. Quero crer que esteja
equivocado”.
Jair Bolsonaro
entende que Rodrigo Maia está a levar o Brasil para o “caos” e “a enfiar a
faca” no Governo Federal”, acenando com o impacto do projeto de lei nas contas
públicas do país, calculado em mais de 80 mil milhões de reais, o equivalente a
mais de 14 mil milhões de euros.
“Lamento a
posição do Rodrigo Maia, que resolveu assumir o papel do Executivo. Ele tem de
entender que ele é o chefe do legislativo e tem que me respeitar como chefe do
Executivo. O sentimento que eu tenho é que ele não quer amenizar os problemas,
ele quer atacar o Governo federal, enfiar a faca”, insistiu Bolsonaro, para
admitir não ver “como pagar uma dívida monstruosa dessas”.
“O Presidente não
vai ter de mim ataques. Ele atira-nos pedras, o Parlamento vai atirar flores ao
Governo Federal”, reagiu o presidente da Câmara dos Deputados, também ouvido
pela CNN Brasil.
Lula: Bolsonaro leading Brazil 'to
slaughterhouse' over Covid-19
Former president brands current leader a
‘troglodyte’ who should be removed from office
by Tom
Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Fri 17 Apr
2020 10.00 BSTLast modified on Fri 17 Apr 2020 10.02 BST
Jair
Bolsonaro is leading Brazilians “to the slaughterhouse” with his criminally
irresponsible handling of coronavirus, the country’s former president Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva has said.
In an
impassioned interview with the Guardian – which came as Brazil’s Covid-19 death
toll hit 1,924 – Lula said that by undermining social distancing and
defenestrating his own health minister, Brazil’s “troglodyte” leader risked
repeating the devastating scenes playing out in Ecuador where families have had
to dump their loved ones’ corpses in the streets.
“Unfortunately
I fear Brazil is going to suffer a great deal because of Bolsonaro’s
recklessness … I fear that if this grows Brazil could see some cases like those
horrific, monstrous images we saw in Guayaquil,” said the 74-year-old leftist.
“We can’t
just want to topple a president because we don’t like him,” Lula admitted.
“[But] if Bolsonaro continues to commit crimes of responsibility … [and] trying
to lead society to the slaughterhouse – which is what he is doing – I think the
institutions will need to find a way of sorting Bolsonaro out. And that will mean
you’ll need to have an impeachment.”
Bolsonaro –
a proudly homophobic former army captain already despised by progressive
Brazilians for his hostility to the environment, indigenous rights and the
arts, as well as his alleged links to Rio’s mafia – has alienated millions more
with his dismissive stance towards the coronavirus, which he belittles as media
“hysteria” and a “bit of a cold”.
Since the
World Health Organization declared the pandemic on 11 March, Brazil’s president
has repeatedly thumbed his nose at social distancing, first by egging on and
attending pro-Bolsonaro protests and then with a series of provocative visits
to bakeries, supermarkets and pharmacies. During one unnecessary outing
Bolsonaro declared: “No one will hinder my right to come and go.”
In March
the rightwing populist even suggested Brazilians need not worry about Covid-19
since they could bathe in excrement “and nothing happens”.
Such moves
put Bolsonaro at loggerheads with his own health minister, Luiz Henrique
Mandetta, a doctor-turned-politician who was fired on Thursday after
challenging the president’s behaviour.
Meanwhile
Bolsonaro’s politician son, Eduardo, has taken the wrecking ball to ties with
Brazil’s most important trade partner, China, by accusing its Communist party
leaders of being to blame for the coronavirus crisis.
Bolsonaro’s
actions have sparked nightly pot-banging protests in cities up and down the
country and drawn scorn from across the political spectrum.
“Coronavirus
must be laughing its head off,” Eliane Cantanhêde, a columnist for the
conservative Estado de São Paulo newspaper, wrote of Bolsonaro’s antics this
week.
The
rightwing governor of Brazil’s most populous state, São Paulo, has declared the
country at war with both the coronavirus and the “Bolsonaro-virus”.
Lula, who
governed from 2003 until 2010, said Bolsonaro’s “grotesque” actions were
endangering lives by “inducing a chunk of society to contract coronavirus” by
ignoring distancing guidelines put in place by Brazil’s own health ministry.
“It’s
natural that a portion of society doesn’t understand the need to stay at home
or how serious this is – especially when the president of the republic is a
troglodyte who says it’s just a little flu,” Lula said by video call from the
Brazilian city of São Bernardo do Campo, where he is in self-isolation after
returning from a tour of Europe.
“The truth
is Bolsonaro doesn’t have the psychological balance to lead a country. He
doesn’t think about the impact his destructive acts have on society. He’s
reckless.”
Bolsonaro
says his opposition to distancing stems from his desire to protect Brazil’s
most vulnerable citizens and their jobs.
After
sacking his health minister, Bolsonaro claimed to be fighting for “the
long-suffering Brazilian people” and warned coronavirus threatened to become “a
veritable meat grinder of jobs”.
“At no
point has the government abandoned the neediest … The impoverished masses
cannot stay stuck up at home,” Bolsonaro said. “I know … life is priceless. But
the economy and jobs must return to normal.”
Lula, who
was born into rural poverty and won international plaudits for his fight
against hunger, scoffed at the idea Bolsonaro was a champion of the poor.
“Bolsonaro
is only interested in himself, his kids, some pretty conservative generals and
his paramilitary friends,” he claimed, in reference to longstanding allegations
over the Brazilian president’s family ties to the Rio de Janeiro mafia.
“He doesn’t
speak to society. Bolsonaro doesn’t have ears to listen. He just has a mouth to
talk nonsense.”
While
Brazil’s former president claimed impeachment was an option, he conceded there
was not currently support for that in the country’s congress, as there was when
his leftwing successor Dilma Rousseff was removed from office in 2016.
He said
many rightwing politicians thought it wiser to allow Bolsonaro to continue
sabotaging his chances of re-election in 2022 through his own incompetence –
before electing another president from the right.
Lula, who
was sidelined from 2018’s election after being jailed on disputed corruption
charges, signalled he would not be the leftwing candidate in that contest.
“I’ve lost
my political rights so I’m not talking about myself,” said Lula, who was
released in November 2019 from 580 days in prison after a supreme court ruling.
“But I’ll
tell you something, you can be certain the left will be governing Brazil again
after 2022. We don’t need to talk about who the candidate is right now. But we
will vote for someone who is committed to human rights and respects them, who
respects environmental protection, who respects the Amazon … who respects
blacks and the indigenous. We’re going to elect someone who is committed to the
poor of this country.”
Observers
of Brazilian politics are less sure Bolsonaro is totally finished – or that the
left is well positioned to replace him.
Some
believe Bolsonaro – one of just four world leaders still downplaying
coronavirus alongside the authoritarian presidents of Nicaragua, Belarus and
Turkmenistan – has obliterated his chances of a second term with his response
to the crisis.
But Thomas
Traumann, a political commentator and communications minister under Rousseff,
said such certainty was premature: “There are two centuries to go until 2022.”
Traumann
said it was clear Bolsonaro had severely weakened himself – but so far
rightwing politicians such as the governors of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo
appeared to be capitalising on Bolsonaro’s blunders the most.
Jair
Bolsonaro, right, with Luiz Henrique Mandetta, whom he has fired as health minister.
Photograph: Adriano Machado/Reuters
And
ultimately Brazil was hurtling into such an unpredictable and potentially
tumultuous few weeks that it was impossible to know what the political fallout
might be.
“We know
Bolsonaro will come out of this weaker. We know his mistakes will not be
forgiven,” Traumann said.
How the
political chips would fall after that was anyone’s guess, Traumman added,
likening Brazil’s predicament to the start of a rollercoaster ride.
“All we
know is that many loops lie ahead … We are moving into an unknown world … We
are sailing in the darkness.”
Lula said
he was certain of one thing: that at a moment of national crisis, Brazil needed
a leader capable of uniting its 211 million citizens.
“A
president should be like the conductor of an orchestra,” he said. “The problem
is that our conductor knows nothing about music, can’t read a score and doesn’t
even know how the batons work.
“He’s
trying to play classical music with the instruments you use to play samba. He’s
turned his orchestra into a madness – a Tower of Babel,” Lula said. “He doesn’t
know what he’s doing in the presidential palace … Not even Trump takes him seriously.”
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