Brazil’s Bolsonaro on Argentina’s new curfew: “The Army in the streets to keep people at home?”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In what promises to be a new diplomatic kerfuffle, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro referred to the surprising restrictive measures adopted by the Argentine government to control the coronavirus pandemic, among which the curfew and the total closure of on-site education stand out.

The Brazilian head of state posted a tweet in which he highlighted not only the ban to circulate but also the presence of military forces in the streets of the City of Buenos Aires, as announced last night by the Argentine Alberto Fernández.

“The Argentine Army in the streets to keep the people at home. Curfew between 8 PM and 8 AM. Good morning everyone,” tweeted Bolsonaro, with an image from Infobae highlighting the measure. His next post referred to the task being carried out by his own country’s armed forces, highlighting that “they are transporting 320 kilograms of health material and vaccines against Covid to the municipality of Boca do Acre, in the Amazon.”

Asked about Bolsonaro’s statement during a long interview on Argentine radio station Radio 10, Fernández tried to clarify that the ban on the circulation of people for almost half of the day could not be considered a curfew. “It would be necessary to explain a little to Jair Bolsonaro how the Constitution works,” said the Argentine president, who after several days of convalescence after contracting coronavirus was discharged on Wednesday.

“In Argentina there is no curfew; in Argentina the Armed Forces do not carry out internal security… I have a great appreciation for our Army, our Navy and our Air Force, which have collaborated in a magnificent way in the pandemic; now I have asked them to help me to set up health posts so that we can increase testing and attend to any situation that needs to be attended to”, said the president.

The announcement of the presence of the Army in the streets was made by Fernández as he informed about the control the federal forces will exercise to prevent people from circulating between 8 PM and 6 AM as from next Friday. After the new presidential decree advising the measures was announced, several sectors of the Argentine capital and suburban areas held protests in disagreement with a new quarantine.

The measures

Fernández decided to move forward with a package of harsher measures in an attempt to curb the spread of the second wave of the coronavirus. After meeting with Cabinet chief Santiago Cafiero, and Minister of Health Carla Vizzotti, he decided to restrict circulation, suspending on-site classes for two weeks and banning sports, cultural, social and recreational activities, as well as imposing a curfew between 8 PM and 6 AM.

All the new measures will be implemented only in the metropolitan area comprising the City of Buenos Aires and what is known as Greater Buenos Aires, the geographical area where the second wave of the coronavirus had the greatest impact. However, the President asked the mayors and governors to accompany him in “this difficult moment” and opened the way for them to adhere to the measures.

Given the increase in the number of cases, the federal government decided to suspend in-person education between Monday, April 19 and Friday, April 30. It will return to the virtual modality in the three educational levels. It was one of the activities in which the President had intended not to give in. Except for the virtual classes, which will start on Monday, all the measures announced by the President will be in force as of Friday.

In the meantime, traffic restrictions will be in force between 8 PM and 6 AM. Over the next 15 days, recreational, social, cultural, sports and religious activities in closed places will be suspended. In addition, commercial activities will operate between 9 AM and 7 PM. Restaurant and catering will operate with home delivery after the allowed hours.

The Government considered that the greatest risk of transmission occurs in social and recreational activities at night, where the two-meter distance is not observed and there are crowds. Consequently, it decided to implement new, tougher and more focused measures.

On Thursday, Fernández added shopping malls to the list of places with restrictions, and announced a compensation of 15,000 pesos for people who already receive social subsidies.

Source: Infobae