Bolsonaro Hid Case Projections and Deaths in the Pandemic

Over a thousand reports from federal agencies were kept confidential and warned about the rise of Covid-19, the political crisis, and vaccines

Aug.1.2023 11:46AM

Mateus Vargas

BRASÍLIA
Intelligence agents of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government prepared more than a thousand reports on the pandemic, projecting an increase in the number of cases and deaths in Brazil, while the former president boycotted measures to combat Covid-19 and access to vaccines.

Kept confidential during the past management, the documents were produced at least from March 2020 to July 2021. The material has pages with stamps from Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency), and GSI (Institutional Security Office) or has no author identification.

The documents reinforce that Bolsonaro ignored, in addition to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health, the information that was raised by intelligence agents and within the Presidential Palace itself.

Bolsonaro contradicted health technicians and intelligence agents in phrases and behavior during the pandemic by promoting agglomerations and dismissing recommendations to prevent the spread of the virus.

In March 2020, he said that the disease "is just fantasy", and "it's not all that big a deal that the mainstream media propagates". In February of the following year, he stated that there were still "idiots who remain at home until today". The following month, when Brazil reached the mark of 320,000 deaths, the then-president asked for an end to the "no-nonsense" and "whining" about the disease.

https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/scienceandhealth/2023/08/bolsonaro-hid-case-projections-and-deaths-in-the-pandemic.shtml