President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil Defies Covid-19 Quarantine and Ham-Handedly Calls on a Reluctant Military to Back Him against Constitutional Government

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On April 16, 2020, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro fired his Minister of Health, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, after weeks of clashes regarding the need for social distancing to combat Covid-19. Soon thereafter, on April 19, Bolsonaro attended a public rally in front of the main army headquarters in Brasilia and attacked lockdown measures meant to fight the coronavirus, while his supporters formed political motorcades around the country. Bolsonaro, who was not wearing a face mask, addressed a crowd of a few hundred, many of them wearing Brazil’s yellow-and-green soccer jersey and sporting banners calling for military intervention and the closing of Congress. Bolsonaro suffered a coughing attack during his brief speech against measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. While the military quickly moved to distance itself from the incident and state governors condemned what appeared to be the president’s call for a coup against his own government, commentators and editorialists had plenty to say.

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