The 20-something countries of Latin America have now become the epicentre of the life-threatening coronavirus. On top of that, the region is mostly poor, dotted with crumbling public health systems, and has incredibly entrenched social inequalities.
Mexico, Peru and Chile are all witnessing huge surges in the number of COVID-19 infections — overwhelming already stressed intensive care units. The total death toll from these three countries has now exceeded 25,000, if that is indeed the true mortality figure.
Equally troubling, this devastating outbreak in the southern hemisphere increases the likelihood that the pathogen will make its presence felt in the north in a second instalment in the fall.
But as the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned, the most worrisome development is the runaway outbreak in Brazil, the most populous country in the region. It is second only to the United States in terms of total coronavirus deaths and cases (surpassing an alarming one million) — adding thousands of new infections daily. One COVID-19 model projects a stunning death toll of 125,000 by August.
Not surprisingly, there are widespread claims of insufficient testing in the country (especially in rural areas), acute shortages of personal protective equipment and an overall downplaying of the virus’s lethality. Moreover, the accuracy of the official death toll (closing in on 55,000) is in doubt, and no one knows for sure how many Brazilians have actually tested positive for COVID-19.
Throughout the country, though, there are huge plots of land where countless lines of graves for coronavirus victims have been hurriedly dug. Indeed, the disturbing drone images of casket-made holes in the ground make for grim viewing — and the virus has not hit its peak yet.
At one cemetery outside of Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, one grave-digger was having difficulty keeping up with the sheer volume of COVID-infected bodies. “We’ve been working 12-hour days, burying them one after the other. It doesn’t stop,” he said despondently.
So-called “mercy flights” from remote parts of Amazonia are being brought to Manaus, a major city of two million in the north of the country. The steady stream of private jets carrying patients in search of treatment or, more glumly, transporting the dead to their final resting place leaves your stomach in veritable knots.
The mayor of Manaus has said that Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro — the Donald Trump of South America — is responsible for the thousands who have perished in his hard-hit city. He has called on Bolsonaro, whom he views as someone angling to be a military dictator, to stop downplaying the severity of the pandemic.
Reportedly, one cemetery buried over 103 people in a single day as grave-diggers worked well into the night and endured painful double shifts. As one of them said disgustingly: “Bolsonaro should come to talk to him about the human carnage from COVID-19.”
Bolsonaro has referred to the contagion as “a little flu,” called for people to “face the virus like a man” and pushed aggressively for an economic opening without due regard for public health. He has riled up his enthusiastic supporters by carefully choosing when, and when not to don a surgical mask. And in a move right out of the Trump COVID-19 playbook, he has urged Brazilians to take the dangerous anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a means of warding off the virus.
Faced with a growing corruption scandal involving untold family members, and seeing the impeachment train coming down the congressional tracks, Bolsonaro is under tremendous political pressure to right the Brazilian ship. The growing COVID-19 crisis has only made matters worse by angering medical professionals, emboldening opposition politicians and enraging the struggling masses.
When I visited Brazil in the spring of 2017 with my family, I could detect the deep disillusionment of many Brazilians over the rampant corruption and poor political situation in the country. I knew then that a hard-right populist like Bolsonaro — who was an army captain and had an uncomfortable fondness for the ruinous 1964 military coup — was destined to prevail at the next presidential election in 2018.
Many were desperate for change and for someone new to really shake things up. But no one expected his personal popularity to plummet so quickly in the last several weeks.
In one recent public opinion survey, almost half of Brazilians want Bolsonaro to resign immediately. But some of his fiercest backers — those whom he energizes at his rallies — are openly calling for him to initiate a military takeover to insulate his government from democratic accountability.
Whatever happens, it’s painfully obvious that Bolsonaro’s handling of the deadly pandemic has been an unmitigated disaster. The good news, however, is that he may not be around for an expected second coronavirus wave in South America next year.
Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
