Five Brazilian prosecutors ask the State to allocate US$11 billion to coronavirus victims

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A group of Brazilian prosecutors has sent a request on Wednesday for the State to invest R$62.5 billion (US$11 billion) in making reparations to the victims of the coronavirus, both to the families of the victims of those who died, as well as those who were left with severe sequelae.

The lawsuit, filed by five federal prosecutors, also requests the Brazilian government to issue an official statement of apology to the victims’ families and acknowledge its responsibility for the actions and policies carried out during the management of the pandemic.

“The Union’s responsibility does not fall directly on the lives and health lost, but on the possibility that these people were not infected and, therefore, did not suffer the aggravations of the disease,” states the document presented by prosecutors Luciana Loureiro Oliveira, Ana Carolina Alves Araújo, Felipe Fritz Braga, Melina Castro Montoya, and Mário Alves Medeiros.

In turn, the lawsuit highlights the “apparent insensitivity” of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, throughout the health crisis, as well as that of other government officials, as “was evident in several of his statements”, reports the newspaper ‘O Globo’.

To this “apparent insensitivity” of President, Bolsonaro is added his “lack of empathy towards the people he represents”, which qualifies, “even more negatively”, his conduct, “in the function of his special position as the maximum leader of a nation”, point out these prosecutors, who accuse him, among other things, for not having remembered the victims, the deceased, or showing solidarity with those affected.

“On the contrary, President Jair Bolsonaro, the nation’s leader, on several occasions mocked and doubted the number of deaths, called “faggots” those who were concerned about the virus and the dire consequences it has for the population,” they recall.

For this reason, they request that the families of those who died from the coronavirus be compensated with at least R$100,000, while those who were left with severe after-effects should be given a compensation of R$50,000.

In turn, one billion reais should go to a State fund to repair the collective moral damage caused to the Brazilian population during the health crisis through the mandatory financing of actions, programs, and scientific development projects.

In their arguments, these prosecutors follow the leftist, politically motivated storyline, which is anything but a proven fact.

Among the government’s misdeeds, prosecutors include the alleged “slow” implementation of the vaccination plan, which allegedly led to further loss of life, and the suspected preference for so-called “illegal and unscientific” options to immunize the population through what Bolsonaro calls “early treatment,” such as chloroquine and ivermectin.