Lula: 'Bolsonaro has become the most despised person in the world'

Brazil Current Network - Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gave an interview. Online for journalists from the Northeast at the end of the afternoon today (25). The material was shown by TVE Bahia. During about an hour of conversation, the former president answered questions about the political situation in Brazil and made harsh criticisms of President Jair Bolsonaro, especially regarding his handling of the crisis. new coronavirus pandemic.

“The president’s role should be to give a speech once a week, or once a day, to guide the population, congratulate public health professionals, and so on (…) The president (Bolsonaro) is committing an atrocity against society. If he continues in this madness, he will be criminalized for the genocide of thousands of people,” Lula said about the current president’s stance on Covid-19.

Bolsonaro, since the beginning of the outbreak, has ridiculed the pandemic And he shows no compassion for the dead Brazilians. He even stated that the deaths would not exceed 800, referring to the H1N1 flu virus strain. He called COVID-19 a "little flu" on national television. When questioned about the dead, he dodged the question and said, "I'm not a gravedigger." In the midst of the worst health crisis in the last 100 years, Bolsonaro fired two Health Ministers for following scientific guidelines, which displeased the far-right radical.

Today, the Ministry of Health is run by a general, Eduardo Pazuello. A military man specializing in logistics, he has never worked in the medical field. Lula criticized the neglect of the ministry, especially at this time. “You have a minister who is a general who has never set foot in a primary health care unit. Who doesn't know what an injection is. Brazil is full of good people. Every health secretary is good. The government should get the orchestra working.”

A president distant from the people.

Bolsonaro is also the target of harsh criticism from the international community. Brazil alone has more cases of COVID-19 than all of Latin America. The country is the second most affected in the world by the virus, in terms of both deaths and infections. "Bolsonaro has become the most despised person in the world," Lula concluded.

Poor management in the face of the coronavirus crisis was also targeted. document from the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), who denounced the government's lack of coordination in finding solutions between the different entities of the federation, the states.

The lack of leadership particularly impacts the Northeast, which, faced with the president's neglect of the region, created a network of coordination among state governments, the Northeast Consortium. In Lula's analysis, especially regarding the Consortium's handling of the pandemic, "It's a disregard for the Northeast, and that's clear. It's revenge. Revenge against governors who have their own minds. And governors should think for themselves. I governed with opposition in São Paulo, Bahia… I never mistreated a governor. Because we don't govern for authorities, we govern for the people," said Lula.

"The president doesn't choose the governor. The people choose. And the people chose the governors, just as they chose him. If he wants to be respected, he has to be respectful, treat (governors) as representatives of the Brazilian people. It's no use saying there's no money," he added.

The region has been standing out for following the guidance of scientists, through a committee committed to science, led by scientist Miguel Nicolelis. “The governors of the Northeast are concerned with respect, with people's lives. No mayor is asking to close businesses 'for aesthetic reasons'. Everyone wants work, a functioning economy, a salary. But, due to the pandemic, the governors of the Northeast have been setting an example of how good it is to treat human beings in a humane way. That's what's lacking in Brazil; the competence of a president who wasn't prepared to treat 210 million people in a civilized manner,” he concluded.