The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro (no party), once again provoked agglomerations this Saturday (30) afternoon in Rome, when he left for a new walk through the back doors of the Brazilian embassy, in the center of the Italian capital , where he is to participate in the G20 summit.
The tour through the city streets lasted about 30 minutes. According to General Augusto Heleno, head of the Institutional Security Office, who was with the group, they saw the Vatican “outside” and talked to people in the street. The president’s social network posted a video of him in the vicinity of St. Peter’s Basilica.
On the way back, the president’s entourage, which included ministers such as Walter Souza Braga Netto, from Defense, was received by opposing protesters, who shouted “Out, Bolsonaro!” and “genocide”.
Government supporters responded to the cries of “myth”. The president’s security guards approached Brazilians who were protesting against the president, but they did not stop the protest.
Menus from a fictitious “Restaurant of Bolsonaro” were also distributed in front of the embassy, criticizing the Brazilian government in the environmental, economic, human rights and fight against the pandemic areas.
Although the president has repeatedly spoken out against the anti-Covid vaccine, he cited the immunization campaign as one of his administration’s achievements in his speech to leaders at the summit.
“In Brazil, more than half of the national population is already fully immunized on a voluntary basis. More than 94% of the adult population has already received at least one dose of the vaccine. In all, we applied more than 260 million doses, of which more than 140 millions were produced in national territory.”
More than 100 million of these vaccines produced in Brazil were made by the Butantan Institute, under the administration of Bolsonaro’s political adversary, Governor João Doria, of the PSDB.
The president may also face protests on Monday (1), when he travels to Angillara Vêneta, the city of his ancestors. The city hall will honor him with the title of honorary citizen, which has already provoked reactions: protesters threw manure at the headquarters of the municipal administration.
On Friday afternoon, the president also walked around the Italian capital, on a tour organized by Italian-Brazilian deputy Luis Roberto Lorenzato, of the xenophobic Italian Liga Norte party.
On Tuesday, at the invitation of Bolsonaro, Matteo Salvini, leader of the legend, will participate in an event in honor of the Brazilian soldiers who fought in World War II, in Pistoia.
The Brazilian president did not speak about his impressions of the G20 summit, which he attended alongside leaders such as US President Joe Biden, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“I have observations from several leaders, I will publish it soon and I will not give a value judgment. We will write a maximum of two lines from each head of state [sic] who spoke there,” Bolsonaro said, confusing the functions of head of state with those of head of government — although in Brazil the president accumulates both, this does not occur in parliamentary regimes, and the G20 summit brought together the heads of government.
Asked whether he supported an effort to distribute vaccines to less-developed countries to reach the target of 70% immunized next year, as Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi proposed, Bolsonaro said that “each boss said something, and the conclusion depends on who is reading”. “Any value judgment on my part gives a huge distortion and criticism towards us.”
Also according to the president, some of the leaders “plagiarized” him by saying that the world will have to live with Covid: “India said it will produce 5 billion vaccines this year, China another 2 billion. Other heads of state said, plagiarizing me, but that’s ok, that we’re going to have to live with the virus for a long time, others saying that the vaccine has to be a universal good, there can’t be profit on it.”
The text of the speech given by Bolsonaro at the G20 summit, however, states: “We understand, therefore, that it is incumbent upon the G20 to make additional efforts to produce vaccines, medicines and treatments in developing countries.”
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