At the beginning of June, when the national total for COVID victims rose above 30,000, many Brazilians recalled an interview that a former army captain, at the time a rather obscure, little-known politician, gave in 1999. Following a question asking what he would do if he was President, the interviewee proclaimed:
“I'm sorry, but through the vote, you won't change anything in this country. It will only change, unfortunately, when we go to civil war here. And doing a job that the military regime hasn't done. By killing about 30,000. Starting with FHC [former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso]. Killing! If some innocent people are going to die? Fine!”
The obscure politician was called Jair Bolsonaro and today he is President of Brazil. Rather than fighting the pandemic, he seems to thrive on it. In echoing the President’s words two decades ago, the gruesome milestone of 30,000 coronavirus deaths reminded Brazilians that Jair Bolsonaro has always displayed a pathological disregard for human suffering.
