Tag Archives: Jair Bolsonaro

NBC News reports: Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga tested positive for Covid-19 hours after accompanying President Jair Bolsonaro to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, the government said. Queiroga will remain in New York in quarantine, the government’s communications office said. “The minister is doing well,” the statement said. It added that the rest of the …

The New York Times reports: President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil kicked off the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday by defending the use of ineffective drugs to treat the coronavirus and by pushing back on criticism of his government’s environmental record. Brazil’s far-right president said doctors should have had more leeway in administering untested medications for Covid-19, adding that he …

Sky News reports: Boris Johnson told Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro to “get the AstraZeneca vaccine” in an awkward exchange with the unvaccinated South American leader. Making small talk, Johnson noted that the pandemic had derailed his plans to visit Brazil, and then added, “But we’re working together on the vaccines. AstraZeneca, it’s a great vaccine. I have AstraZeneca, twice.” Bolsonaro …

The BBC reports: The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, says he will address the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week, despite not having been vaccinated. The New York mayor’s office said all those attending will have to show proof of vaccination to enter the debate hall because it is classified as a convention centre. UN Secretary General …

The Daily Beast reports: This summer, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, Trump told confidants that he’s open to publicly endorsing Bolsonaro’s reelection, potentially at a mega-rally in Brazil where he and Bolsonaro could appear together side-by-side, to rail against what they each deem undesired election outcomes. Bolsonaro, who is widely expected to decisively fail in his …

The New York Post reports: Former Trump adviser Jason Miller was detained by authorities in Brazil as part of an investigation of “anti-democratic acts” in the South American country, according to local reports. Miller, the founder of the conservative social media site Gettr, was reportedly held back by Federal Police on Tuesday morning as he was about to board a …

Reuters reports: Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro said on Saturday that he had three options: victory in the 2022 presidential election, death or prison. “I have three options: arrest, killing, and victory,” he said at a rally of evangelical leaders. Bolsonaro later added that the first option was out of the question. “No one on earth threatens me.” Bolsonaro follows …

Reuters reports: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told a radio broadcaster on Monday he had commissioned a study from the health ministry regarding ending the use of facial masks, which is recommended by specialists to prevent against the coronavirus. The South American country has registered 20,528,099 cases Friday since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 573,511, …

The Washington Post reports: In a television interview two decades ago, the fringe congressman didn’t hesitate to say it: If he were president, he would shut down the Brazilian congress and stage a military takeover. “There’s not even the littlest doubt,” Jair Bolsonaro said. “I’d stage a coup the same day [I became president,] the same day. Congress doesn’t work. …

Reuters reports: YouTube said on Wednesday it had removed videos from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s channel for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, becoming the latest tech giant to pull his pandemic pronouncements. YouTube said in a press release the decision was taken “after careful review” and without consideration for Bolsonaro’s job or political ideology. The far-right former army captain, …

Axios reports: In speeches, Bolsonaro, a former military captain, has been questioning the integrity of an electronic ballot system that’s been in place since 1996 and suggesting he might not even allow elections to happen. Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is currently the runaway favorite heading into the October 2022 contest. Driving the news: The Supreme Court opened …

Reuters reports: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been hospitalised to identify the cause of chronic hiccups, the President’s office said, in the latest health scare for the far-right leader who was stabbed in the gut on the campaign trail in 2018. Bolsonaro, 66, went to the military hospital in Brasilia and is expected to be under observation for 24 to …

The Associated Press reports: Anti-government protesters have taken to the streets in cities across Brazil as the nation’s confirmed death toll from COVID-19 soared past half a million. It’s a tragedy many critics blame on President Jair Bolsonaro’s attempt to minimize the disease. Thousands gathered Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, waving flags reading “Get out Bolsonaro.” Other marchers hoisted posters …

Reuters reports: Brazil’s former health minister told a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday that President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing government knew full well that the treatment they were advocating for COVID-19 patients had no scientific basis. Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was fired last April by Bolsonaro for not agreeing to push the malaria drug chloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, testified before a …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Brazil’s government, widely criticized by environmental groups as a negligent steward of the Amazon rainforest, has made an audacious offer to the Biden administration: Provide $1 billion and President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration will reduce deforestation by 40%. The proposal was made as the Brazilian president prepares for a virtual environmental summit with roughly 40 heads …

The Washington Post reports: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro resisted calls for a nationwide lockdown to halt the out-of-control spread of coronavirus cases, even as the nation reached several grim milestones, including a record number of deaths. “We’re not going to accept these policies of ‘stay home, close everything, lock down,’ ” he said on a visit to the southern city …

Reuters reports: Brazil’s brutal surge in COVID-19 deaths will soon surpass the worst of a record January wave in the United States, scientists forecast, with fatalities climbing for the first time above 4,000 in a day on Tuesday as the outbreak overwhelms hospitals. “It’s a nuclear reactor that has set off a chain reaction and is out of control. It’s …

The Guardian reports: The commanders of the Brazilian army, navy and air force – Gen Edson Leal Pujol, Adm Ilques Barbosa and Lt-Brig Antônio Carlos Bermudez – met with the president’s new minister on Tuesday morning and reportedly tendered their resignations during a dramatic and heated encounter. On Tuesday afternoon the defence ministry confirmed all three would be replaced, a …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Home to less than 3% of the world’s population, Brazil currently accounts for almost a third of the daily global deaths from Covid-19, driven by the new variant. More than 300,000 have died, and daily deaths now top 3,000, a toll suffered only by the far more populous U.S. The spread of the virus in …

The Associated Press reports: Mere miles from Brazil’s presidential palace, the bodies of COVID-19 victims were laid on floors of hospitals whose morgues were overflowing. Lawmakers fielded calls from panicked constituents across the country, where thousands awaited intensive care beds, and they had no effective health minister to turn to Sunday. Brazil was in political disarray as it surpassed 300,000 …