Report on covid-19 accuses Jair Bolsonaro of “crimes against humanity”, he affirms that he is not to blame for “absolutely nothing”

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro incurred “Crimes against humanity” with its denial in the face of a pandemic that killed more than 600,000 people in the country, concludes the report of a Senate commission that investigated the management of the health crisis, presented this Wednesday.

The report, written by Senator Renan Calheiros, instructor of the group, includes four ministers and 61 other people as accused, and denounces Bolsonaro for eight other crimes, including those classified as epidemic resulting in death, violation of sanitary measures, medical quackery and incitement to crime.

For his part, the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, assured that he and his government are not to blame for “absolutely nothing” in relation to the worsening of the covid-19 pandemic, which already leaves some 600,000 dead in the country.

“We know that we are not to blame for absolutely nothing. We know that we did the right things from the first moment ”, said the president at an event on improvements in sanitation infrastructure, in the municipality of Russas, northeast of Brazil.

The other accusations are prevarication, falsification of public documents, irregular use of public money and attacks against the dignity of the position, all included in the document presented to the commission, which will decide next week whether to approve the report and send it to court.

The current ministers included in the list are those of Health, Marcelo Queiroga; Defense, General Walter Braga Netto; General Secretary, Onyx Lorenzoni; and the Comptroller’s Office, Wagner Rosario, who are joined by other Bolsonaro collaborators, such as former Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo, all suspected of various crimes.

The accusations are supported by information obtained by the parliamentary group, which ranges from the imposition on public health of remedies without proven efficacy against the covid that formed a so-called “early treatment” based on the dubious chloroquine, to serious suspicions of corruption in the negotiation of vaccines.

Also, found evidence of a network of far-right activists who, combined with the government, spread massive false information about the pandemic, minimizing its seriousness and in line with the speech maintained by Bolsonaro, who fought all preventive measures from the Government.

In the section of “Fake news”, among the accused are three of the president’s sons: Senator Flavio, Deputy Eduardo and Councilor Carlos Bolsonaro, who maintained a feverish denial activity on social media.

Bolsonaro’s repeated violation of the measures that prohibited crowds and imposed the use of masks, his promotion of chloroquine in official speeches, and the use of large public resources to acquire it was also considered.

“In conclusion, by insisting on the ‘early treatment ‘as the only policy to combat the pandemic, Bolsonaro contributed strongly to the spread of covid-19 in Brazil and, thus, he showed himself to be the main responsible for the mistakes made by the Government ”, says the report, the result of six months of investigation. (I)