Coronavirus: Brazil’s political chaos deepens as death toll soars

Even as the coronavirus pandemic strengthens its grip on Brazil, the country's president Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday he is scrapping cabinet meetings after a video of one last month became the latest focus of the country's political crisis.

The mounting institutional chaos comes as Brazil is threatening to become the new global epicentre of the pandemic. Despite massive under-reporting because of a lack of testing capabilities, the rise in infections continues to accelerate with the total number on course to overtake France.

The latest source of political tension that provoked the president’s move is footage of an April 22nd cabinet meeting, now part of an investigation overseen by a supreme court judge, which former justice minister Sérgio Moro says proves his claim that Mr Bolsonaro wanted to change the leadership of the federal police in order to protect his family.

The far-right leader’s sons are caught up in a number of investigations into corruption and a fake news operation that targeted the supreme court and political opponents. Mr Moro resigned last month rather than agreeing to the changes demanded by the far-right leader, which could violate the constitution.

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The president says he never mentioned the federal police in the cabinet meeting in question and instead was referring to changes in his family’s bodyguard detail in Rio de Janeiro. The differing interpretations have led to calls for the footage to be made public.

Having previously said the video should have been destroyed, Mr Bolsonaro now says parts of it can be released. The video also allegedly shows the education minister calling for the arrest of supreme court justices and the foreign minister once again blaming China for the pandemic.

Lack of testing

More than 12,400 Brazilians have officially died from Covid-19, with the daily death toll now approaching 1,000. Simultaneously there has been a surge in other deaths, often from respiratory problems, that are not recorded as coronavirus fatalities because of a lack of testing.

But despite health systems in various regions approaching collapse, Mr Bolsonaro has continued to wage a campaign against quarantine measures. He argues that the economic damage caused by containment efforts is worse than the threat from coronavirus and imperils the future of his administration.

As part of his efforts to reopen the economy this week he signed a decree declaring gyms, beauty parlours and barber shops essential services exempt from lockdown orders. The move is likely to be resisted by state governors who are leading efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

Mr Bolsonaro also had his tests for Covid-19 released on Wednesday by a second supreme court justice following a freedom of information request by a newspaper. The president had fought the move through the courts. He tested negative.