Category Archives: Brazil

Brazilian protesters call for Jair Bolsonaro to be impeached

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Demonstrators in several cities denounce president for alleged corruption and Covid mismanagement

Protesters took to the streets in several Brazilian cities on Saturday to demand the impeachment of Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s far right president whose popularity has fallen in recent weeks amid corruption scandals against the backdrop of the pandemic.

This week, news broke that Brazil’s defence ministry told congressional leadership that next year’s elections would not take place without amending the country’s electronic voting system to include a paper trail of each vote.

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Angry Brazilians dress as reptiles for their Covid jabs to mock Bolsonaro

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People are wearing costumes as a protest to the government’s handling of an outbreak that has killed more than 545,000

When Klinger Duarte Rodrigues set off for his coronavirus shot last weekend he did so dressed as a South American snake.

“A sucuri,” he said, using the indigenous name for the Amazonian water boa whose skin he borrowed for his first dose of AstraZeneca.

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‘Hunger has returned’: Covid piles further misery on Brazil’s vulnerable

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Many blame President Jair Bolsonaro’s failure to handle the pandemic and to provide adequate support for those in need

Even before coronavirus, life was a struggle on Regeneration Street, a rubbish-strewn skid row on the north side of Rio de Janeiro.

Cadaverous crack addicts probe dumpsters for scraps of food; crestfallen down-and-outs sprawl on soiled mattresses and rugs.

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Indonesia’s daily Covid infections higher than India and Brazil

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Health systems overwhelmed as Delta variant sweeps across south-east Asia

Indonesia has reported more daily Covid-19 infections than India and Brazil as the Delta strain sweeps across south-east Asia, placing intense pressure on health systems.

Most countries in the region are experiencing their worst outbreaks since the pandemic began, fuelled by the emergence of more aggressive variants and a lack of vaccines.

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Bolsonaro may have emergency surgery after hiccups persist for over 10 days

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President transferred to São Paulo to determine if procedure necessary after surgeon diagnoses him with bowel obstruction

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, may be forced to undergo emergency surgery after he was rushed to hospital in the early hours of Wednesday complaining of abdominal pain.

Related: Haiti authorities seek three more people after killing of president

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Top rightwing Brazil newspaper demands removal of Bolsonaro

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Call comes as outrage over Covid and corruption drags president’s ratings to lowest ever level

One of Brazil’s leading conservative newspapers has demanded the removal of the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, as public outrage over his coronavirus response and corruption dragged the rightwing populist’s ratings to their lowest ever level.

“Jair Bolsonaro is no longer in a position to remain in the presidency,” O Estado de São Paulo declared on Sunday as polls showed that for the first time a majority of citizens backed impeachment and considered their leader incapable of governing.

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Crackdown on ‘vaccine sommeliers’ as Covid pandemic grips Brazil

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Although four vaccines are available, some shots are deemed by some more desirable than others

Cities across Brazil are clamping down on “vaccine sommeliers” who seek to cherrypick their Covid shots despite the devastating epidemic still gripping Latin America’s largest nation.

More than half a million Brazilians have lost their lives to an outbreak the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, stands accused of ruinously mishandling. Yet some citizens have shown themselves to be perplexingly selective about which brand of vaccine they receive.

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Corruption allegations increase pressure on Bolsonaro

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Reports claim Brazilian president, already accused of mishandling Covid, was involved in embezzlement scheme

The Brazilian president has come under further pressure after being personally implicated in an alleged corruption racket involving the supposed misappropriation of his workforce’s wages.

Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right populist who admires Donald Trump, took office in January 2019 vowing to “forever free the fatherland from the yoke of corruption”.

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Brazilians take to streets to demand removal of Jair Bolsonaro

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Calls for president’s impeachment grow amid claims government sought to profit from Covid jabs

Huge crowds of protesters have returned to the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities to demand the removal of a president they blame for more than half a million coronavirus deaths.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators hit the streets of Rio de Janeiro on Saturday morning as calls for Jair Bolsonaro’s impeachment intensified after allegations that members of his government had sought to illegally profit from the purchase of Covid vaccines.

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The Brazilian protest leader determined to bring Bolsonaro’s ‘genocidal’ government down – video

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The Guardian follows Guilherme Boulos, who ran against Bolsonaro in the last elections, as he leads thousands through the streets of São Paulo, calling for the country’s president to be impeached. 

The pressure is mounting on Bolsonaro as he faces a scandal over allegedly corrupt Covid vaccine deals and public rage over his handling of a pandemic that has killed more than half a million people. 

Boulos has helped lead and organise two mass demonstrations already in the past month and will be at the forefront of a third protest this Saturday. Tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out. 


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Brazilian presidential hopeful Eduardo Leite comes out as gay

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But governor who hopes to challenge Jair Bolsonaro next year backed the far-right leader in 2018

One of Brazil’s leading politicians, the presidential hopeful Eduardo Leite, has announced he is gay – a rare move celebrated by many as a triumph over prejudice in a country whose president has declared himself a proud homophobe.

Leite, the 36-year-old governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, made the announcement on Thursday night during an interview with the country’s top broadcaster, TV Globo.

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Bolsonaro fires health official who reportedly asked for vaccine deal bribe

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Brazil suspended contract on Tuesday for Covid vaccine deal from Bharat Biotech after allegations of undue pressure within ministry

Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has fired a health ministry official who reportedly asked for a bribe in a vaccine deal, the latest graft accusation to rock the government amid investigations of its pandemic response.

With over half a million Covid-19 deaths and more new cases daily than any other country, anger is mounting in Brazil over missed opportunities to buy coronavirus vaccines. Accusations of corruption undercutting efforts have poured fuel on the fire, triggering new calls for Bolsonaro’s impeachment.

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Brazil could have stopped 400,000 Covid deaths with better government response, expert says

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Epidemiologist behind study on scale of disaster says Jair Bolsonaro’s government is ‘entirely’ responsible

Brazil could have saved 400,000 lives if the country had implemented stricter social distancing measures and launched a vaccination programme earlier, according to an eminent epidemiologist who is leading the first study to quantify the scale of the country’s Covid disaster.

Such policies would have prevented 80% of the half a million Covid deaths registered in one of the hardest-hit countries in the world, said Pedro Hallal, a professor at the Federal University of Pelotas.

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‘You can’t cancel Pride’: the fight for LGBTQ+ rights amid the pandemic

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Lockdown hit LGBTQ+ communities hard but even as Pride events are called off there is hope and a promise that the parades will return

This month, for the second year in a row, there was no Pride parade in San Francisco, arguably the city most laden with history and symbolism for the LGBTQ+ community.

It is a decision Fred Lopez, who took over as executive director of San Francisco Pride at the beginning of last year describes as “heartbreaking”.

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Brazil’s inquiry into Covid disaster suggests Bolsonaro committed ‘crimes against life’

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Televised congressional investigation looks at political decisions that lead to crisis that has killed half a million

A congressional inquiry into Brazil’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic has found mounting evidence that Jair Bolsonaro’s administration committed “crimes against life”, according to the senior politician leading the investigation.

Launched in April to scrutinize the government’s handling of a crisis that has killed half a million citizens, the nationally televised investigation is digging into the political decisions that led up to one of the cruelest moments in the country’s history.

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Coronavirus live: Macron joins Merkel in call for EU to coordinate quarantine for non-EU countries such as UK

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French president’s remarks come after German chancellor says all EU members should quarantine UK visitors

Mexico’s health ministry on Thursday reported 5,340 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country and 221 more fatalities, Reuters reports.

It brings the total figures to 2,493,087 infections and 232,068 deaths.

Italy reported 28 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday compared to 30 the day before, Reuters reports.

The health ministry said the daily tally of new infections fell to 927 from 951 on Wednesday.

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Brazil police use teargas and rubber bullets against indigenous protesters

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• Three protesters injured and three police hit by arrows

• Congress mulls diluting protection for indigenous territories

Riot police have fired teargas and rubber bullets at indigenous activists protesting outside Brazil’s congress against new legislation that would undermine legal protections for indigenous territories, and open them up to commercial agriculture and mining.

Thick clouds of teargas enveloped the demonstrators, including children and the elderly, as police attempted to clear the camp in Brasília on Tuesday where they have been protesting for the past two weeks.

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Riot police use teargas on indigenous protesters for land rights in Brazil – video

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Riot police used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse a group of indigenous people protesting on Tuesday outside Brazil's Congress against a bill that lawmakers were about to debate that would undermine the recognition of protected reservation lands. The bill, known as PL 490 and backed by Brazil's powerful farm caucus in Congress, seeks to open up protected indigenous lands to commercial agriculture and mining

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Hungary’s LGBT protests and Juneteenth Day: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms from China to Colombia

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