Brazil Senators Say 300K COVID Deaths Were Homicides

Panel recommends charges against Bolsonaro
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 19, 2021 6:50 PM CDT
Brazil Senators Say 300K COVID Deaths Were Homicides
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro talks on a cell phone after meeting with Colombia's President Ivan Duque at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021.   (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

The pandemic has killed at least 603,000 people in Brazil, more than in any country except the US—and a panel of senators is accusing President Jair Bolsonaro of killing half of them. After a six-month investigation, the panel plans to recommend charges of mass homicide and genocide of Indigenous people against the president, according to a draft report seen by the New York Times. The senators say Bolsonaro's policies, including a "deliberate and conscious" decision to delay buying COVID vaccines, caused thousands of deaths. The report says Bolsonaro caused a long delay in vaccine distribution by ignoring more than 100 emails from Pfizer.

The senators say Bolsonaro, who discouraged mask-wearing and called the virus a "little flu," deliberately let the virus spread in a failed effort to achieve herd immunity. "Many of these deaths were preventable," centrist senator Renan Calheiros, the report's lead author, tells the Times. "I am personally convinced that he is responsible for escalating the slaughter." The report accuses Bolsonaro of a total of 11 crimes, including "charlatanism" for his "obstinate" promotion of unproven and ineffective remedies like hydroxychloroquine, the Guardian reports.

The draft report recommends charges against 69 other people, including three of Bolsonaro's sons. One of them, Flavio Bolsonaro, is among the president's four allies on the 11-member panel. The panel, which includes seven opposition members, is expected to vote on the report next week. If they approve it, Brazil's attorney general will have 30 days to decide on charges against Bolsonaro—but since he was appointed by the president and continues to support him, charges are seen as unlikely, the Times reports. Calheiros says the panel will consider taking its case to the country's Supreme Court and the International Criminal Court. (More Brazil stories.)

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