Bolsonaro will go to the UN to present “the truths of Brazil” but without vaccination

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has not been inoculated against Covid-19 due to his naturally acquired immunity, confirmed Friday that he will travel to New York next Sunday to attend the opening of the UN General Assembly two days later, where he will present “the truths” of Brazil.

“I’ll travel Sunday, give the inaugural address Tuesday and then return,” the president said, without dwelling on the controversy in the United Nations over mandatory covid vaccination demanded by the New York City Council, where the organism’s headquarters are located.

As a body directed by its member states, the UN has said that it cannot impose conditions on the governments. Still, it is nevertheless studying the possibility of addressing the concerns of the New York authorities, which in turn have no control over the headquarters of the international organization.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, mandatory vaccination cannot be imposed on Bolsonaro in his capacity as head of state. However, the diplomatic staff accompanying him will comply with this requirement.

The Brazilian president assured that he will be at the UN next Tuesday to “show the truths, the realities of Brazil and what it represents to the world,” without revealing details about his speech, which as Brazilian president he will traditionally give at the opening of the General Assembly.

One of the points he is expected to address in his speech is a debate about the ancestral rights of Brazilian indigenous people to the land that exists in Brazil and is the subject of a case before the Supreme Court, which is deliberating on the so-called “temporal framework” theory promoted by his government.

It only recognizes as indigenous lands capable of demarcation, those that the indigenous peoples occupied on October 5, 1988, when the current Brazilian Constitution was promulgated.

The indigenous peoples, for their part, maintain that this theory puts an end to their “ancestral rights” and would favor the legalization of areas occupied before that date by landowners who forcibly expelled their original inhabitants over decades.

As official sources said to press agencies, before the UN General Assembly, Bolsonaro will also address the economic impact of the pandemic, reiterate his criticism of the situation in Venezuela and present Brazil as a pole for foreign investment.

The government has advised that Bolsonaro has included in his entourage 18 people, including eight of his 23 ministers.

They are the heads of Foreign Affairs, Carlos França; Economy, Paulo Guedes; Justice, Anderson Torres; Health, Marcelo Queiroga; Environment, Joaquim Leite; Tourism, Gilson Machado; Institutional Security, Augusto Heleno; and General Secretariat, Luiz Eduardo Ramos.

The delegation also includes, among others, the first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, and Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of the five sons of the president.