It’s hard to overstate the problems in Brazil - the situation is almost certainly far worse than the reported figures show - Bolsonaro has lost two health ministers over his refusal to take the virus seriously and has appointed generals to run the health ministry.
The constitution is also under threat with serious differences between the judiciary and the Executive.
My take on it is that Bolsonaro and his family and underlings are under investigation - largely over corruption and on a grand scale. He knows there is plenty of substance and evidence to back it all up, this is why he made the position of his former untenable Sergio Doro had been by all accounts a diligent and effective justice minister - he has been effective at chasing down corruption of the previous administration and has chasing down some senior supporters of the current one.
Bolsonaro is keen to remain in charge, so that he can’t be held directly for corruption charges - he would have to be impeached first which would normally be a protracted and difficult matter - however in this case it would go through pretty easily.
His only option is to hang on, create as much havoc as he can and maybe declare a state of emergency - it would not be much of a stretch for him to create a military government and remove the civilian one - Brazil has had military dictatorships for much of its post colonial history.
Seems to me that Bolsonaro is just a criminal who is trying his damnest not be be held to account and jailed, he isn’t a politician as much as an embezzler and he knows that the judiciary know it, which is why he is favouring the military by greasing their palms.
Brazil could be the first nation whose government is lost to coronavirus
Bolsonaro (Trump) is keen to remain in charge, so that he can’t be held directly for corruption charges - he would have to be impeached first which would normally be a protracted and difficult matter - however in this case it would go through pretty easily.
His only option is to hang on, create as much havoc as he can and maybe declare a state of emergency - it would not be much of a stretch for him to create a military government and remove the civilian one - Brazil has had military dictatorships for much of its post colonial history.
Seems to me that Bolsonaro is just a criminal who is trying his damnest not be be held to account and jailed, he isn’t a politician as much as an embezzler and he knows that the judiciary know it, which is why he is favouring the military by greasing their palms.
It wouldn’t be the first: the Hungarian government is essentially a cult of personality ex-democracy now. But it would be even more significant in that it would be the collapse of a major democracy in the Western Hemisphere and in the Americas.
Bolsonaro isn’t a joke candidate. He is a former military man himself, which goes back to the time when Brazil was a military-ruled state. He has ties to the military. He understands its machinery, its ability to police and control a population.
It’s important to understand why though: the why isn’t only to suppress dissent over the public health crisis; it’s also an attempt to take preventative or preemptive action against open rebellion over the economy, which is ultimately what results in regime change, be it democratic or otherwise. If a party that espouses authoritarianism knows they’re going to lose an election, they will get ahead of it and shut the opposition down any way they can.
What you’re seeing there is a weekend effect, where 2 out of every 7 days have lower numbers than the rest. Generally those reported on Sunday and Monday at the Worldometer site. In Brazil that happens to both number of new cases and number of deaths. You can see the same effect in US numbers of deaths, although not number of new cases. Likely there’s other countries that exhibit it too.
You have to think that if he has it, then its likely that most of his advisors and cabinet will also have it and they will all be in a more vulnerable age range - expect some senior Brazilian politicians to die
From what I’ve read, Bolsonaro thought he’d gotten it earlier, so assumed he was immune. Either he was wrong about that (very likely) or his immunity didn’t last.
The scary news is that it looks as if there is no lasting immunity. Three months later and you can get it again.
The equally scary news from New Scientist and others is that COVID-19 does all kind of sneaky things that leave long-lasting health problems. As yet, they are not sure how long lasting, but weeks at least.
