RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a crowded event that disregarded the health rules for quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, still in force in the state of São Paulo, President Jair Bolsonaro said his management of the Covid-19 pandemic ‘was unparalleled’.
“From the start, I took on an unparalleled position, not only within Brazil but as a head of state worldwide. I haven’t seen a head of state make decisions like I have,” said the President, who yesterday attended the inauguration ceremony of a bridge project in Eldorado, in the Vale do Ribeira, São Paulo inland.
Earlier in the morning, the President had already visited the city of Pariquera-Açu, also in the Vale do Ribeira, where he took part in the announcement of the construction of another bridge, this one with an estimated value of R$15 million (US$3 million).
As examples of such management mentioned by Bolsonaro, the President said he studied the use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“I’m not a doctor, I’m an Army captain, but I studied it,” he said.
According to the President, another achievement of his administration was to place equal weight on the economy and the health issue. “I always said that we had two problems: the virus and unemployment,” he said.
The proof of this double priority, according to the President, was the emergency aid benefit payment. “Designed to last three months, we extended it for two more and made a proposal to Congress for it to remain until the end of the year at a lower amount: R$300,” he said.
Brazil has had an interim Minister of Health for over three months, General Eduardo Pazuello, who is not a doctor. He is the third to hold the post since the start of the pandemic.
International and Brazilian scientific studies point out that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine do not help Covid-19 patients recover nor do they cure the disease.
The emergency aid originally proposed by the government to Congress amounted to R$200. In Congress, however, the amount was raised to R$600.
Visit to São Paulo’s interior
This is the second time that Bolsonaro visits Vale do Ribeira as President, but this is the first time on an official agenda. The other occasion was to visit his mother, who lives in Eldorado.
In the city, Bolsonaro came to announce the construction of a new bridge over the Ribeira de Iguape river, an old desire of the city, which should take three years to be built.
After the announcement, Bolsonaro had lunch on a farm with rural producers in the region, in an undisclosed location. In the afternoon, he visited his mother, and spent the night at her home, from where he pledged to do a live stream at 7 PM.
Today, the President has an appointment in Registro, where he will visit a Sesi-Senai (National Service for Industrial Training) unit. Sesi and Senai are chaired by Paulo Skaf in São Paulo, president of the FIESP (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo), a supporter of the President who intends to run for the state government in 2022 with Bolsonaro’s support.
Unlike Pariquera-Açu, there were messages in Eldorado alluding to the President’s presence in the city, most of them proud of the “son of the land’s” presence in the region. Bolsonaro lived part of his childhood and adolescence in Vale do Ribeira.
In his morning speech, he said he left Eldorado at 16 to start his military training. Born in 1955, Bolsonaro graduated in 1977 from the Agulhas Negras Military Academy in Rio de Janeiro state.
Source: UOL