SAO PAULO (AP) – A Brazilian Supreme Court judge on Thursday ordered the Senate to investigate how the government handles the coronavirus crisis and the full court ruled that churches could be banned from reopening during the pandemic, threatening further tensions between President Jair Bolsonaro and the judiciary.
Judge Luis Roberto Barroso’s order to investigate the Senate came just minutes after the entire court confirmed the power of local authorities to prevent the opening of churches and other houses of worship.
Bolsonaro downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, while arguing that the economic and emotional impact of the shutdowns would hurt more Brazilians than the pandemic. He sometimes threw himself into the checks and balances of other branches of government and repeatedly criticized the Supreme Court for maintaining the power of governors and mayors to impose restrictions on economic and personal activity during the pandemic. Last year, he took part in protests against the court.
The Conservative president, a proud Christian who has the support of some of the country’s leading evangelical leaders, has opposed locally imposed blockades and other restrictions that health experts say are extremely necessary to stop the virus from spreading. In recent weeks, Brazil has become the epicenter of the pandemic crisis, accounting for more than a quarter of the world’s deaths from COVID-19.
“The investigation will call on scientists from all over Brazil to testify and show how irresponsible the president’s statements were. It will be harder for him. Public opinion will be heard in the Senate, “said Carlos Melo, a professor of political science at Insper University in Sao Paulo. “It simply came to our notice then. The time has come for the political system to react. ”
With the increase in the number of deaths in the country – among the 345,000 dead are three senators – more than the necessary 27 senators have already signed a request for a congressional investigation into how the administration will manage the pandemic, but for to advance it was necessary the approval of the president of the chamber, Sen. Rodrigo Pacheco. Pacheco, who won the post in January with the support of Bolsonaro, refrained from launching the probe.
“It was not the time. That’s what I believe, “Pacheco told reporters in Brasilia on the judge’s orders. “This investigation will be out of bounds at this time. It could crown the national failure of this pandemic. ”
Pacheco said an investigation would inevitably pull ahead of the 2022 presidential race in which Bolsonaro is expected to seek re-election, offering opposition senators a platform to attack the leader and potentially accuse him of committing crimes.
The Senate is due to look at how the government has handled the COVID-19 crisis and could support new criticism of Bolsonaro. If senators decide that there is something criminal in response, the Senate should ask the federal attorney general to open its own investigation.
The ruling on houses of worship does not prevent local authorities from allowing churches to reopen, and some have already done so.
But the court acted after Judge Kassio Marques, the only member of the court appointed by Bolsonaro, allowed churches in Brazil to reopen on Saturday, provided they followed health protocols. Many churches opened on Easter Sunday, some without noticing social distancing.
Marques was annulled by his colleagues in a 9-2 vote that culminated on Thursday.
Judge Gilmar Mendes said in his vote that Brazil had become “an international health care pariah.”
“Brazil, which was once a model in public health in immunization campaigns, is in this extremely embarrassing situation today,” he said.