RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Over the weekend starting Friday, July 4th, the re-election campaign for US President Donald Trump ran ads on Facebook and Instagram, proudly proclaiming that, as part of his efforts to save statues from vandals, Trump will protect Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue located atop Corcovado Mountain.
The ad campaign, headlined “Stand with your President”, encouraged voters to send in their names and contact information, saying “The President wants to know who stood with him against the Radical Left.” It featured a picture of Rio’s historic statue with the phrase “WE WILL PROTECT THIS”.
The Daily Beast, which broke the story, mentioned Trump’s battle against protesters tearing down statues. “Unlike the statues Trump and his team have focused on to date, though, Christ the Redeemer is not in the United States. It’s also not clear how Trump or Pence might go about protecting it if it were threatened …”
As it happened, Brazil’s President Bolsonaro had commemorated America’s Independence Day on the Fourth of July by attending, along with a half dozen Cabinet ministers, a luncheon hosted by the US Ambassador to Brazil Todd Chapman.
On Sunday, Brazil’s president began to feel ill, with symptoms of Covid-19. After tests on Monday, he announced on Tuesday that he tested positive for Covid-19, apparently with a light case. US Ambassador Chapman said he would have himself tested, out of caution.
The incident is reminiscent of one in March this year, when President Bolsonaro traveled to the US to meet with his counterpart at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida resort. After Bolsonaro’s return to Brazil, over half the entourage that had accompanied him tested positive for Covid-19.