Brazil’s Bolsonaro says he is not responsible for country’s rising unemployment

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said he is not responsible for the rise in unemployment in the country, and that those who decided to close trade and businesses to fight the Covid-19 pandemic are to blame.

In a speech during the inauguration of a bridge in Piauí, Bolsonaro said that the people have been “forgotten by those who ordered the closure of trade and destroyed millions of jobs.”

The president again said that there is no scientific evidence to support circulation restriction policies, despite the experience, in Brazil and abroad, showing a reduction in infections and deaths when there are fewer people on the streets.