“
If it was up to me, there wouldn't be a carnival.
But I'm not the one who decides.
According to the Supreme Court, it is the mayors and governors (of the various states of the country) who decide,
”said the head of state during an interview with Radio Sociedade, a radio station in Bahia (north-east).
Jair Bolsonaro had previously always been fiercely opposed to any restriction on the movement of people during the pandemic.
In large cities such as Rio de Janeiro, which organizes the carnival famous all over the world, or São Paulo, the festivities, scheduled from
February 25 to March 1, 2022
, were conditioned by the local authorities to the epidemiological situation, which s' has improved significantly in recent months thanks to the advancement of vaccination.
Beyond the party, the carnival is an industry that brings to life a host of trades: seamstresses, embroiderers, carpenters, painters, electricians, united under the baton of the "carnavalesco", the creator and director of the parade.
For the city of Rio, in virtual bankruptcy, this event is a real financial windfall: it attracts 1.5 million tourists who fill hotels, bars and restaurants and inject nearly 800 million euros into the local economy.
Read also Rio Carnival: our tips for enjoying the most famous popular festival in the world
Canceled carnivals
But this week, several dozen municipalities in rural areas of the state of São Paulo announced that their carnival was canceled for health reasons, and also, in some cities, for budgetary reasons.
“
In February 2020, not much was known about the pandemic.
I declared an emergency (public health), but the mayors and governors ignored it,
”President Bolsonaro said during his radio interview.
“
The consequences followed.
There were 600,000 deaths and they want to blame me for this responsibility,
”he added.
The first death linked to Covid-19 was announced on March 17, two weeks after the 2020 carnival. A month later, the Supreme Court (STF) of Brazil ruled that the decision whether or not to impose restrictions was up to governors and mayors.
But the STF has always said that by no means meant that the federal government was not required to take its own actions to fight the pandemic.
At the end of October, a Senate commission of inquiry called for the indictment of Jair Bolsonaro for nine crimes, including “
crimes against humanity
”, for having “
deliberately exposed Brazilians to mass contamination
” with his anti-confinement speech and his reluctance to acquire vaccines.
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