Once a denialist, Bolsonaro now uses Covid to cancel Carnival

President Bolsonaro is using Covid-19 as an excuse to call for next year's Carnival to be canceled. But his reasons for doing so are less than noble, and expose massive hypocrisy

bolsonaro carnival — Rio’s Sambadrome was empty in 2021. Photo: Rafael Catarcione/Riotur

Dec 05, 2021 12:31 5 min read

Ever since the pandemic started, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has defied scientific consensus on almost every major issue, including the efficacy of chloroquine, mask use, and vaccines. But no single pandemic-related matter is as important to Mr. Bolsonaro as his opposition to social distancing and lockdowns. He claimed stay-home orders would create a hunger epidemic and even took state governments to the Supreme Court to lift lockdown measures.

So, when the president and his allies argue that the country should cancel its 2022 Carnival celebrations using Covid transmission risks as an excuse, it certainly sounds a bit rich. “If...

Access all of The Brazilian Report

Start your 7-day free trial.

Free trial

Close search

Load more results

Once a denialist, Bolsonaro now uses Covid to cancel Carnival

President Bolsonaro is using Covid-19 as an excuse to call for next year's Carnival to be canceled. But his reasons for doing so are less than noble, and expose massive hypocrisy

Access all of The Brazilian Report

Start your 7-day free trial.

Bolsonaro’s quest for a running mate is less than straightforward

Selecting a vice presidential nominee is much more complex than it seems. Jair Bolsonaro will have to cater to his congressional allies, but he will also be careful not to empower anyone that could usurp his position

Bolsonaro used health scare to garner sympathy. He failed

President Jair Bolsonaro had hoped he would see a much-needed boost in popularity during a short stay in the hospital to treat a bowel obstruction — but the population didn't want to know

The motivation behind Bolsonaro’s anti-vax messaging

The president has spent much of the pandemic minimizing the severity of Covid-19 and casting aspersions over vaccination, and this seems to have gained him credit among a key constituency: public security workers

China “penetrated” the Bolsonaro government, ex-Foreign Minister tells Bannon

Speaking to Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, Ernesto Araújo complained of China's continued influence in Brazil, with unproven claims that the Asian giant engages in "narco-socialism"

Health issues could become Bolsonaro’s excuse to pull out of election

Sources from major conservative parties say that if Jair Bolsonaro doesn't get a popularity boost during his latest stint in the hospital, he could withdraw his candidacy from the 2022 election

Retail figures highlight Brazil’s underwhelming 2021 Black Friday

Confidence levels within Brazilian industry at five-year low

Big Center tightens grip over the federal budget

Service sector grows in November after two-month skid

Over 700 Brazilian cities under a state of emergency in 2022

Electoral projections remain stable, with Lula in the lead

Alckmin closer to Lula’s presidential slate

President Bolsonaro has intestinal obstruction, confirms hospital

Health concerns raised as Bolsonaro visits medical clinic

Center-left presidential hopeful targeted by police operation

The risks for inertial inflation in Brazil

Coming in far higher than the government's targets, Brazil's double-digit 2021 inflation rate caused havoc throughout the country. We take a look ahead to this year to find out what we should expect from Brazil's consumer prices

Heineken, Brazil, and the history of the human race

Major brewer Heineken scrapped its grand plans to build a massive factory in southeastern Brazil, as the planned location was adjacent to one of the country's most important archeological sites

A tale of two airports in Rio de Janeiro

The centrally located Santos Dumont airport is set to be auctioned off to the private sector this year, but the Rio de Janeiro city government fears it will push Galeão International Airport into obscurity

Brazilian firms surfing corporate reorganization wave as IPOs dry up

Significant hikes to interest rates have throttled liquidity in the Brazilian stock market and dissuaded companies from going public. In the meantime, firms are eyeing reorganization as a means to expand abroad

Brazil’s fiscal prospects to remain bleak through 2023

The Bolsonaro government's decision to breach federal spending cap rules and uncertainty surrounding the 2022 election leaves Brazil's fiscal outlook less than rosy for the coming years

Tech Roundup: SpaceX launches first satellite by a Brazilian startup

The Brazilian Pion-BR1 satellite was sent into space this week, developed for less than USD 100,000 on the outskirts of São Paulo

Tech Roundup: E-commerce tax worries state governments

A mix-up concerning e-commerce tax regulations could see state administrations miss out on billions in revenue, unless a speedy solution is found

Brazilians accuse Twitter of harboring fake news spreaders

Prosecutors have stepped in, demanding the platform explain why it has not set up tools to contain pandemic-related misinformation

Buying a Brazilian’s private data costs less than two cups of coffee

Out in the open, illegal website sells personal data on millions of Brazilians — and courts have been unable to get it shut down

After pandemic boom, sextechs are breaking taboos in Brazil

Sales of vibrators doubled during the first five months of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil — but the country's erotic product sector goes far beyond sex toys

Explaining Brazil #181: Bolsonaro picks a dangerous fight

Federal civil servants threaten to go on strike next week, which could cause a government shutdown just months from the presidential election

Explaining Brazil #180: A new home for Bolsonaro

After much comings and goings, Bolsonaro has found a new party, in an arrangement that will help shape Brazil's political landscape for 2022 and beyond

Explaining Brazil #179: Brazil’s vaccination success

This time last year, Brazilian citizens were unsure if they would ever get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Now, the country has immunized 80 percent of its adult population

Explaining Brazil #178: Argentina’s far-right lion

Javier Milei: vaccine skeptic, climate change denier, libertarian economist … and now, one of the biggest political stars in Argentina

Explaining Brazil #177: What Brazil did at COP26

Brazil showed up in the west of Scotland ready to listen and compromise with the international community. But were its commitments enough?

Government slashes surgery reimbursements, leaving patients vulnerable

The Bolsonaro government has cut the reimbursement hospitals receive for performing surgical procedures on public health patients, causing backlogs for emergency treatment

Why people in the Amazon die earlier than other Brazilians

Large distances and a lack of healthcare infrastructure meant the region’s residents already faced difficulties accessing services – and that was before the pandemic hit

Brazil loses USD 2.5 billion a year from Covid-19 deaths

A study from think tank Fundação Getúlio Vargas attempted to measure the wealth of human and financial capital lost in Brazil during the pandemic, with over 600,000 deaths

The Brazilian known as the “Angel of Hamburg”

Working as a diplomatic clerk in Nazi Germany, Aracy de Carvalho bent the rules to grant Brazilian visas to Jewish people seeking to flee persecution and death

Community organizations play vital role in tackling gender violence in Brazil

A new study on femicide in Brazil shows strong awareness of the reality of gender-based violence – but a lot more action is needed

Extreme weather puts Brazil on alert in 2022

Intense floods in Bahia have caused deaths and displacements, while other parts of the country face severe droughts. Such extreme weather patterns are rapidly becoming the norm in Brazil

Brazil has its own Green New Deal. But can the country afford it?

Proposed by the opposition's House whip, the Brazilian Green New Deal has plenty going for it, but its price tag could be too steep for a country mired in fiscal uncertainty

Major Brazilian river basin under threat from farming, mining, and climate change

The Tocantins-Araguaia river basin is an integral part of its surrounding region, but the expansion of agriculture and extractive activities has left it vulnerable to profound environmental changes

Brazil’s ESG commitments: ask corporations, not the government

On the whole, major Brazilian companies seem to be on board with a more sustainable approach to business. Customer engagement and social norms are also pushing the ESG agenda

Courts become a new ally in fight against climate change

Climate change litigation is becoming more and more common around the world, and the trend is gaining ground in Brazil

How the Omicron crisis unfolds in Latin America

Vaccines can't tame Omicron alone, and the new surge of Covid infections presents Latin America with many risks — for health and the economy

Luck turns around for main informant in Mexico’s Odebrecht scandal

Emilio Lozoya, former head of state-owned oil giant Pemex, promised to point the finger at three former presidents, but now faces decades of jail time himself

Maduro hopes to become Venezuela’s Deng Xiaoping

Analysts see a pragmatic turn in Chavismo, one that is helping improve the trade and inflation situation — though dramatic problems remain after a decade of economic chaos