RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Answering a request by Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Edson Fachin, the federal government justified the violations of restrictive measures committed by President Jair Bolsonaro during the pandemic.
The Justice had granted the government five days to respond to a lawsuit brought by the PSDB party to force Bolsonaro to comply with the recommendations on mask use and social distancing. The party claims that the president is acting ‘in blatant misconduct’ by disregarding guidelines from the federal public administration itself, such as the Ministry of Health and the Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA).
In 15 pages, the government says it has undertaken ‘several measures’ to tackle Covid-19 and argues that any court order that overrides the decrees in force is “dispensable.”
“The adoption of measures by the federal government, led by the Head of the Federal Executive Power, have the purpose of fighting the novel coronavirus, which, by itself, dispels the allegation of irresponsibility attributed to the President of the Republic with respect to compliance with the required measures to tackle the pandemic,” reads an excerpt of the document.
A survey published in March showed that since the start of the pandemic, the president has promoted at least 41 ceremonies with crowds at the Planalto Palace. In public events, Bolsonaro did not wear a protective mask, an indispensable item to prevent mass contamination. Last month, on a trip to Maranhão, he was fined by the state government headed by Flávio Dino (PCdoB) for failing to comply with the sanitary measures in place in the state to fight the pandemic.