Uncontrolled Covid-19 Epidemic Leads Neighboring Countries to View Brazil as Threat

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández said on Wednesday, May 6th, that the uncontrolled coronavirus pandemic in Brazil is a risk for the region as a whole.

In an interview with Radio Con Vos, from Buenos Aires, he stated that the issue has been the subject of regular talks between heads of government of neighboring countries. “I have already spoken with Piñera (Chile’s president) and Lacalle (Uruguay’s president). Of course Brazil represents a risk,” Fernández said.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the president of Argentina has pursued a policy contrary to that of the Brazilian government. The first coronavirus case in the country was confirmed on March 3rd, when a 43-year-old man, who had returned from Italy, tested positive. The subsequent cases also involved people who had returned from Europe.

On March 15th, Fernandez enforced mandatory quarantine for anyone returning to Argentina with a fine of up to 100,000 pesos (approximately R$8,500) and imprisonment from six months to two years.

On March 20th, when the Argentine authorities recorded 128 cases and three deaths, Fernández further tightened isolation by decreeing compulsory quarantine and closing the borders. It was the first radical measure in the fight against the pandemic, implemented at a time when Brazil counted four deaths and President Jair Bolsonaro was trying to downplay the issue.

As in the Brazilian case, Fernández faced resistance from some economic sectors. Opposition groups yesterday called for a march to violate the quarantine imposed by the government.

Senator Felicitas Beccar Varela and Patricia Bullrich, former President Mauricio Macri’s Public Safety Minister, accused Fernández of using the coronavirus as an excuse to shut down the economy.

On March 30th, the Argentinian president said, “There is no turning back from death, but the economy recovers”. Two weeks later, he defended isolation, claiming the choice between quarantine and the economy was “a false dilemma. “I would rather have ten percent more poor people than 100,000 killed by the coronavirus in Argentina.”

Strict social distancing measures appear to have yielded results. Up until Wednesday, Argentina’s health authorities recorded 5,000 cases and 264 deaths – six deaths per million inhabitants. Meanwhile, the spread of the virus has advanced further in Brazil, exceeding 120,000 cases and 8,000 deaths – 38 deaths per million people.

On Wednesday’s interview with Radio Con Vos, Fernández said once again that the Argentine government’s concern is the carelessness with which Brazil is dealing with the pandemic.

“I don’t understand how (Brazil) is behaving so irresponsibly,” said the president. “Brazil borders all of South America except Chile and Ecuador. In Argentina, many Brazilian trucks come from São Paulo, which is the most infected part of Brazil”.

On March 30th, Fernandez had already criticized Bolsonaro’s strategy with respect to the coronavirus. “I am very sorry that the extent of the problem is not grasped,” said the Argentinian president, when asked about the Brazilian government’s efforts to restart economic activity.

“I fear that, with this rationale, Brazil will fall into the same spiral of contagion as Spain, Italy, and the US, which declared quarantine after it was too late”.

Fernández’s concern is shared by other neighbors. On Tuesday, Luis Lacalle Pou, president of Uruguay, ordered the tightening of health controls on the border with Brazil. Álvaro Delgado, secretary of the presidency, said he viewed with “concern” the spread of cases on the Brazilian side.

“The Uruguayan government is concerned with the situation in a number of cities on the Brazilian side,” said Delgado, after an emergency meeting of Lacalle Pou’s cabinet, to address the issue.

Paraguay has implemented similar measures. On Monday, President Mario Abdo Benítez was in Ciudad del Leste to oversee border control.

According to the government, 85 percent of the 2,810 Paraguayans who returned to the country after the pandemic began came from Brazil and were largely responsible for the spread of Covid-19 in the country. In Pedro Juan Caballero, the army put up barbed wire and dug ditches in some parts of the border with Mato Grosso do Sul.

Source: Estadão Conteúdo