Explaining Brazil #105: Pandemic power plays in Brazil and the U.S.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (left) and Donald Trump during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago. Photo: Alan Santos/PR

Since the start of his rise from congressional backbencher to the presidency of Latin America’s richest nation, Jair Bolsonaro’s antics have always been compared to those of Donald Trump.

While not a perfect nickname, Bolsonaro has often been referred to as the “Trump of the Tropics”, a comparison that he’s always welcomed and fueled himself.

And Covid-19 has made the two far-right leaders even more alike.

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On this episode:

Luis Fernando Correia is a physician and a healthcare correspondent in the U.S. for Brazilian radio station CBN.

Background reading:

The Brazilian Report has launched a live blog to follow the spread of Covid-19 in Brazil. It will be used to provide public-interest information on a daily basis about the developments of the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil. If you have doubts about the issue, do not hesitate to write to us at hello@brazilian.report.
Low testing numbers are hiding the true number of infections in Brazil — and the real figures could be up to 15 times higher.
Brazil’s public healthcare system is not a failure — but it is massively underfunded.
The Trump administration’s botched coronavirus response, explained (Vox)
The coronavirus has drastically upended Brazil’s 2020 municipal elections — and no one at this time can tell for sure how, and if, this vote will be able to take place.
Economists working under the federal government told reporter Brenno Grillo that Bolsa Família is the answer to Covid-19. But, as Euan Marshall showed early in March, the Jair Bolsonaro administration has slashed it.

Explaining Brazil is made by:

Gustavo Ribeiro, editor-in-chief of The Brazilian Report. He has extensive experience covering Brazilian politics. His work has been featured across Brazilian and French media outlets, including Veja, Época, Folha de S.Paulo, Médiapart, and Radio France Internationale.
Euan Marshall, editing. Euan is a journalist and translator who has lived in São Paulo, Brazil since 2011. Specializing in Brazilian soccer, politics and the connection between the two, his work has been published in The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, The Independent, among others.