Page 8 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, MAY 2021, (English)

Did the Decline of President Bolsonaro Begin?
For many, the moment of truth has arrived for President Jair Bolsonaro, investigated for his negligent handling of the pandemic by a Congressional commission. The President is calm, after agreeing support with the so-called political centre that is never free. The President disbursed more than USD $ 3,9 billion for congressmen to nance public works and buy agricultural equipment at in ated prices, sometimes through companies owned by relatives.
For some, President Jair Bolsonaro is headed straight for his decline. The progress of the study carried out by the Parliamentary Investigation Commission on his alleged mismanagement of the pandemic has the opposition very hopeful, especially now that former President Lula da Silva and Fernando Henrique Cardoso showed a political harmony that has been unprecedented since the end of the military government in 1985.
A photo uploaded to social networks showed them side by side, wearing masks, bumping their sts, after years of grudges, confrontations and hardly punctual dialogues. They were united by a common enemy: President Jair Bolsonaro. Thus, since he returned to the political game, former President Lula da Silva was open to dialogue with everyone, including those who supported the impeachment of Dilma Rousse and indicated his willingness to take the Workers’ Party (PT) more towards the centre, if necessary. In addition, Lula went on a successful tour of Brasilia and announced that he would soon meet with social movements. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the most important former president
of the re-democratization along with Lula himself, also decided to make a gesture announcing that he would support Lula in a possible second round of elections against Bolsonaro next year. It was the signal to break the last resistance.
The phrases “out with Bolsonaro” and “anyone is better than him” began to become a national mantra, as the investigation into the management of the pandemic in the Brazilian Senate tightens the fence on Bolsonaro.
The testimony of the president of P zer in Latin America, Carlos Murillo, before the Investigative Commission demonstrated, even more, the lack of action of the Government to face the coronavirus crisis. In his statement, he a irmed that the President and his Ministry of Health ignored at least ve o ers of vaccines, that is, millions of doses, something that today scandalizes when it is known that more than 430,000 Brazilians died of covid-19 and the vaccination campaign continues slow and erratic in the absence of active ingredients to make the vaccines, which China should supply.
p8 Montt Latin American Magazine