From the very beginning of the Pandemic, Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazilian government has been in crisis. In addition to a damaging response to the Covid-19 pandemic, he is now facing the largest crisis of his presidency as the heads of the army, navy and air force all quit. Brazil faced its largest daily Covid-19 death toll of 3,780 on Tuesday, raising Brazil’s total death count to almost 314,000. The resignations are set to be a protest against President Bolsonaro’s attempts to hold disproportionate control over the military.
The Covid Crises
Currently, Brazil has the second-highest number of total confirmed cases worldwide, behind the United States. Brazil also holds the second-highest total Covid-related deaths while the daily death numbers shockingly account for close to a quarter of all worldwide Covid fatalities. Consequently, the health system is unable to withstand the pressure and is on the verge of collapse. Brazil is made up of 26 states, out of which 18 at present have an ICU occupancy of above 90%. In the states of Amapá and Mato Grosso do Sul, ICUs have reached full capacity.
The latest Covid surge is due to a highly contagious variant that is said to have originated in Manaus, the Amazon state. Data thus far shows the variant to be twice as transmittable as the original variant. While Brazil’s neighbours like Bolivia are taking precautions to stop the new variant from spreading into their own country by announcing border vaccination programmes, Brazil’s immunisation programme has been consistently delayed with 8% of the 211 million population having received their first dose thus far.
Political Unrest at its Worst
With 43% of the Brazilian population blaming President Bolsonaro for the handling of the pandemic, political upheaval is not a surprising consequence. Bolsonaro has, from the beginning, been opposed to lockdown measures that would prevent the spread of the virus. Rather, he has favoured protecting the economy and has been reported stating that the damage to the economy caused by lockdowns will be direr than the Covid effects. Further, he has addressed the people of Brazil and told them to “stop whining” about his decisions.
Over the last year, Brazil has had 4 health ministers with the latest replacement having occurred on March 16 2021. This week alone, the foreign minister and five other cabinet ministers have left. Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo left due to a falling out with Congress as he was accused of mishandling relations with China, India and the US, which resulted in a lack of vaccines being imported.
The latest move in facilitating Brazil’s political upheaval was Bolsonaro’s sacking of defence minister, Fernando Azevedo e Silva, this week. The two had clashed over whether the army’s loyalty should stand with upholding the constitution over supporting the president personally. The defence minister argued that the army is to uphold the constitution and as Bolsonaro did not agree, he sacked the minister.
Bolsonaro’s replacement, Gen Walter Braga Netto, is more closely aligned with the president than his predecessor. In retaliation and as a showing of their opposition to the president and his decisions, the heads of the army, navy and air force all retired.
Brazil has a tumultuous history with the armed forces as the country faced 21 years of military rule until 1985 when it returned to democracy. The coup is a part of Brazil’s history that is not largely celebrated, however, Bolsonaro is a former army captain and, much to the outrage of the public, commemorates the 1964 coup that handed power to the military.
His preference for the military rule is likely the reason he appoints active duty and retired generals to key positions in his cabinet; he provides himself with inordinate political power over the armed forces. The recent resignations have shown that the current military does not agree with the authoritarian plans that Bolsonaro has made no secret of working towards.
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