Podcast

Explaining Brazil #142: Four ministers and 280,000 funerals

President Jair Bolsonaro has changed Health Ministers for the third time since the start of the pandemic

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is changing his Health Minister again. After 304 turbulent days, Army General Eduardo Pazuello is leaving the government and will be replaced by a physician who also happens to be a hardcore Bolsonaro supporter. The change comes as the president is finally getting some political heat to tackle the pandemic head on and try to steer the country out of its worst crisis in a century.

The new minister, cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga, takes over with Brazil in chaos, breaking new records for daily coronavirus deaths.

He will be Brazil’s fourth Health Minister since the pandemic was declared last year. 

Will it be fourth time lucky? Brazilians certainly hope so. And President Jair Bolsonaro should, too. His allies in Congress have made it clear that if Queiroga is a flop, Brazil will not be looking for a new Health Minister — they will be looking for a new president.

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