After the loss of over 360,000 lives in Brazil, the Senate has finally given its approval for a COVID-19 Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) which will assess the actions undertaken by the federal government to combat the pandemic. This decision comes after the Federal Supreme Court (STF) ordered Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco to set up the CPI. Of the Commission’s eleven members, the weakened Bolsonaro government can only count on the support of four. This fact opens up the real possibility of the investigation making progress and disclosing evidence of the various crimes that the president has committed. As evidenced in the recent audio recording leaked by Senator Jorge Kajuru, Bolsonaro is growing increasingly distraught as the opening of the CPI approaches.
The federal government will bend over backward to try and stall the Commission, by trying to have governors and mayors included in the investigation in an attempt to take the focus off itself, and by delaying and making the work of the CPI impossible whenever it can. There will even be the buying of votes and parliamentary support through budget amendments, the granting of positions, and public works. Therefore, it is the role of the left to act firmly both inside and outside Parliament to ensure that the investigation fulfills its duty. The CPI must open the way for nothing less than the impeachment of this genocidal president.
There is abundant evidence of the crimes against humanity that Jair Bolsonaro has committed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Through a series of actions and omissions, the government has deliberately acted to spread the virus through the country to try and achieve “herd immunity”, that is, accelerated and wholesale mass infection. Bolsonaro encouraged crowds, discouraged the use of masks, boycotted social distancing measures, delayed the purchase of vaccines, and advocated the use of drugs such as Chloroquine and Ivermectin that have been proven ineffective for the treatment of COVID-19.
There is evidence that incriminates the government in the catastrophe that occurred in Manaus in January. Even with advance warning of an imminent lack of hospital oxygen in the state of Amazonas, the Ministry of Health, then under the direction of Eduardo Pazuello, did nothing to prevent the tragedy. Similarly, it has been established that the government chose not to sign vaccine purchase contracts far enough in advance, in 2020, which has caused an irreparable delay and not enough vaccine doses for the population, with the cost being the lives of tens of thousands of people.
Evidence also exists that the federal government did not make provision for the purchase of sufficient quantities of vital medicines for the hospitalization and intubation of COVID patients, which are out of stock in hospitals across the country. Bolsonaro did not buy “intubation kits” for the health system but instead used public money to pay for the purchase and production of Chloroquine.
Therefore, there is so much evidence of the crimes committed by Bolsonaro against life and public health that, if the CPI established by the Senate conducts a serious investigation, there will be no other possible path except the opening of impeachment proceedings. But that is not guaranteed. For the senators to comply with the legal and moral obligation of this investigation, there needs to be pressure and social mobilization outside of parliament. The parties of the left, trade unions, social movements, and the black, feminist, and LGBT movements need to act in this fashion. The health strikes, symbolic demonstrations, and ‘colagens’ (placing of posters and poster art) scheduled for 20 April, as well as active solidarity campaigns, are an important step forward in this mobilization. Bolsonaro must pay for the crime of genocide. Impeachment saves lives.
This article is an English translation of “A CPI da Covid tem que terminar em impeachment”, [https://esquerdaonline.com.br/2021/04/16/a-cpi-da-covid-tem-que-terminar-em-impeachment], Esquerda Online (EOL), 16/04/2021.
Translation: Bobby Sparks
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