A Threat to Brazil’s Democracy Beyond the Pandemic

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: What does it feel like as you hear the totals and, you know, the case load increasing daily?

PETRA COSTA, “THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY”: It feels like being trapped in a nightmare because all of this could have been avoided. Brazil wasn’t hit by the virus until it had been hit already Italy, the United States, we had all the media pressuring the government to take measures, but Bolsonaro really resisted and has done the most absurd remarks, for example, when questioned about the mounting deaths, he said, I’m not a gravedigger. So, what? Everyone’s destiny is to die. He has boycotted initiatives from mayors, governors that have tried to stop the pandemic. As you said, he didn’t just change one, but two, health ministers and is putting us all in a state of paralysis as the deaths continue mounting. His indifference only grows.

AMANPOUR: And, Petra, we’re watching this horrible video, of course, of the graves going into the coffins going into the ground, and we’ve seen in, for instance, the Amazon region, we’ve seen mass graves in Manaus, the capital there. I mean, obviously, the pictures are telling a very dramatic story. I wonder whether you’ve noticed any change in tone from Bolsonaro, your president, since he himself contracted the disease. He has COVID.

COSTA: He announced that with a smirk on his face and used it as an opportunity to become a poster boy for chloroquine, taking it in the video and saying that it was working well for him and that he was fine, and using it really to downplay the seriousness of the virus. And it’s also quite strange that months ago in March, he had gone on a trip to the United States, and 20 people from his delegation became contaminated, and he refused to show his tests at the time. He only did so after the Supreme Court forced him to do so. And now, he volunteered this information in a moment where he’s involved in a huge corruption scandal and where that’s in the media, and it seems like a perfect plot to divert attention.

AMANPOUR: And perhaps to get some sympathy. Let me ask you, have his poll numbers suffered? He was elected in a landslide in 2018. Has his popularity sunk at all or is he still very popular?

COSTA: His popularity diminished even more after the pandemic and after the scandals, but it continues very solid at 30 percent.