SAO PAULO (AP) – A few kilometers from Brazil’s presidential palace, the bodies of COVID-19 victims were placed on the floors of hospitals whose mortuaries were overflowing. Lawmakers sent panic calls from the electorate across the country, where thousands were waiting for intensive care beds, and they had no effective health minister to appeal on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a smiling President Jair Bolsonaro met with hundreds of supporters to share pieces of green and yellow cake in celebration of his 66th birthday. The mood was jubilant, even as the country approached a gloomy stage of coronavirus.
Brazil was in political turmoil, with more than 300,000 deaths caused by the virus on Wednesday night. Enemies and allies alike are calling on the president to change course to stop a recent wave of daily deaths, accounting for nearly a third of the world’s total.
This month, Bolsonaro began to change the rhetoric about the value of vaccines, but continues to reject restrictions on the activity he paints as a violation of personal freedom and continues to promote unproven COVID-19 remedies.
“Should I change my narrative? Should I become more malleable? Should I give up? What does the vast majority do? Bolsonaro said Monday during a ceremony at the presidential palace. “If I am persuaded to do something else, I will do it. But I still haven’t been convinced. We have to fight the virus, not the president. “
MPs were looking for ways to prevail over Bolsonaro. As hospital systems collapse and essential supplies run out, four lower house MPs told the Associated Press that their constituents call them “accomplices.” Two are members of allied parties and have spoken on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“There is a lot of solidarity, but everything has its limit. Everything, “Bolsonaro’s ally Arthur Lira said in Congress on Wednesday afternoon. “The political remedies of the Congress are known and they are all bitter. Some, fatal. ”
Opposition Senator Alessandro Vieira, who is recovering from COVID-19 at home, said the Senate president will not be able to hold back a congressional investigation much longer. Another prominent senator from a centrist party, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely, anticipates that the chamber will open the investigation next month. This could further damage Bolsonaro’s popularity ahead of his 2022 re-election bid.
Bolsonaro has made several openings to show that he takes the pandemic seriously – a year after he first declared it “a little flu”. On Tuesday night, hours after Brazil registered a one-day deal, he issued a national address to blame the options for the more aggressive spread of the virus and to defend his administration’s actions to conclude transactions for more than 500 people. million doses of vaccine.
“We will make 2021 the year of vaccination,” said Bolsonaro, who until recently questioned the effectiveness of some vaccines, while rejecting offers from some manufacturers. Most vaccines provided by his health ministry will reach Brazilian arms only in the second half of 2021. His address has been met with protests in the big cities, including the capital Brasilia.
Earlier in the day, the nation’s fourth-largest pandemic health minister was sworn in, a week after he was appointed. Marcelo Queiroga secured his place after the initial candidate, Ludhimila Hajjar, refused the position.
When interviewed for the post, Bolsonaro and one of his parliamentary sons sprinkled Hajjar with questions not only about controversial pandemic blockades, but also topics of concern to his conservative base, such as abortion, according to the two ministers present at the meeting. , who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak publicly. Avid Bolsonaro’s supporters have also launched an aggressive defamation campaign against her, threatened with death and tried to sneak into her hotel in Brasilia.
The election of Queiroga, a loyalist Bolsonaro, convinced some lawmakers that the president fails to understand the gravity of the situation.
On Wednesday, Bolsonaro held his first meeting with leaders from all branches of the federal government to coordinate efforts. Once again, he advocated for anti-malarial drugs that have not been shown to be effective in treating COVID-19 and has not proposed any policy to deal with the pandemic.
He also did not provide any updates on imminent risks to oxygen supply in several states, reducing stocks of sedatives for intubating patients with COVID-19, or whether the federal government will resume timely reimbursements to governors to expand bed capacity. hospital. Of the 26 states and federal districts in Brazil, 18 report at least 90% occupancy in the intensive care unit.
The Mato Grosso state health system has already collapsed. Dr. Maria Auxiliadora Rosa, director of the Evangelical Hospital in the small town of Vila Bela, said in a video that went viral on social media that she fears there will be no oxygen for patients until the weekend.
“We need help,” Rosa pleaded.
One of the few governors who attended Wednesday’s meeting, Renan Filho, Alagoas, of the centrist party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, was displeased with Bolsonaro’s performance.
“The president is trying to change, he is making an effort, but he still has a lot of doubts and not too much conviction,” Filho told reporters afterwards. “It simply came to our notice then. He is trying to build a national strategy, but it is not easy for someone who has been so vocal with his story. ”
Political scientist Luciano Dias, a consultant at the CAC in Brasilia, said Bolsonaro is the weakest since his administration began in January 2019. A March 17 poll by Datafolha says 54% of Brazilians disapprove of his response to the pandemic. increase by six percentage points compared to two months earlier.
“The decline in his popularity has led him to review some of his behaviors, such as his interest in vaccines, and talk to other authorities,” Dias said. “The president had to bow to reality. The continuation of this crisis increases the risk that he will start losing supporters and see his chances of being re-elected. ”
Opposition MP Alexandre Padilha, the former health minister, highlighted another factor that forced Bolsonaro to adjust: the return of his nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The left-wing leader who ruled between 2003 and 2010 had his political rights restored this month by Brazil’s Supreme Court and is likely a contender in next year’s election.
“He will push the debate forward in Brazil. He tries to understand the problems, to offer solutions “, said Padilha.
Da Silva has already presented himself as a counterpoint to Bolsonaro: always wearing face masks in public, supporting restrictions on activity to slow the spread of the virus, expressing empathy for the families of the victims and contacting foreign leaders to increase the supply of vaccines.
Wednesday’s hearing also apparently sought to remedy the fences between Bolsonaro and the Supreme Court, which the president has often accused of undermining his authority during the pandemic, supporting the jurisdiction of governors and mayors to impose restrictions on activity.
During the court hearing, after meeting with the president, Judge Luis Roberto Barroso gave a brief review.
“After a year of delay, they decided to set up a commission of experts and doctors,” Barroso said. “Was very well. After a year of delay and 300,000 deaths. ”
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Álvares reported from Brasilia. AP reporter Marcelo Sousa contributed to this report from Rio de Janeiro.