MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Parliamentary Commission investigating Bolsonaro's handling of covid-19 pandemic starts sessions

Bolsonaro has reportedly dubbed these sessions as a “Carnival out of season”

The Parliamentary Investigative Commission (CPI) probing President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the coronavirus pandemic convened Thursday for the first time as Brazil surpassed the 400,000-casualty barrier.

Senators Omar Aziz and Renan Calheiros presided over the encounters where it was decided to summon former Health Minister, General Eduardo Pazuello for next Wednesday and Doctor Marcelo Queiroga, who replaced him in March, for next Thursday, together with National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) Director, Admiral Antonio Barra Torres.

Bolsonaro has reportedly dubbed these sessions as a “Carnival out of season” as his allies are focused on how the pandemic was managed in the 27 states of the Union and the 5,600 municipalities throughout the country, while those against him would rather draw the spotlight on his health policy, his position before the vaccine, as well as social isolation and communication against the ailment, which includes the “fake news” spread by YouTubers and influencers linked to the ruling party.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bolsonaro has had four health ministers, but the one who had the most controversial performance was Pazuello, who aligned himself with all of Bolsonaro's positions in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic: such as recommending hydroxychloroquine, a drug designed for malaria, not supporting social distancing and deferring the purchase of vaccines.

Brazil as an “incubator for new strains”

Bolsonaro was also targeted Thursday by the European Parliament regarding his actions against the covid-19 pandemic. “By action or omission, Bolsonaro's necropolitics constitutes a crime against humanity that must be investigated,” said Spanish MEP Miguel Urbán.

Another Spanish MEP, Jordi Solé, warned that the management of the health crisis could “turn the country into an incubator for new strains” of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes Covid-19.

Portuguese MEP Isabel Santos believed the situation in Brazil is more difficult due to the “irrational denialism of Bolsonaro”, whom she accused of ”doing everything so that the population is not vaccinated (...) It is not a mistake, but a deliberate irresponsibility,“ she stressed.

Paulo Rangel, also from Portugal, believed the impact of the pandemic was aggravated ”by political errors and denialist views, as is the case in Brazil.”