Bolsonaro under pressure: “I am not corruptible”

Brazilian President Bolsonaro is used to criticism. But the accusation that he knew about corruption in the procurement of vaccines is troubling him. The call for impeachment is getting louder – but not everyone has an interest in it.

As always, Jair Bolsonaro reacts cholerically to new accusations: “Are you going to accuse me of corruption even though we haven’t spent a penny?” It’s all a lie, there were no excessive prices for the procurement of vaccines, said Brazil’s President: “Not a cent was spent on Covaxin. Not a single ampoule arrived. Do you want to accuse me of corruption? You will fail. Because I am not bribable . ”

Strictly speaking, nobody accuses the Brazilian president of having earned money by buying vaccines himself. But he is said to have known that intermediaries tried to make millions into their own pockets.

The biggest corruption scandal to date?

It’s about buying millions of doses of the Indian Covaxin vaccine. An officer reportedly tried to make a dollar on every single dose. A parliamentary committee of inquiry is trying to shed light on what is going on. Randolfe Rodrigues, the vice-chairman of the committee, has already spoken of the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the republic.

And Bolsonaro is said to have known about it for months without taking any action. Congressman Luis Miranda said that Bolsonaro understood how serious the events were: “He looked me in the eye and said: ‘This is very serious.’ Then he mentioned the name of the politician behind it. ”

That is why the judiciary has started preliminary investigations into abuse of office. And Bolsonaro, who is already in the pillory because of his erratic corona policy, is coming under even greater pressure.

The mood changes

The mood has changed, says the political analyst Oliver Stuenkel from the prestigious Getúlio Vargas Foundation. Only every fourth Brazilian still supports the government and that will get even worse in the next few weeks.

From Stuenkel’s point of view, the vaccine scandal means that Bolsonaro has to change his strategy. He is now acting on the defensive and has to explain himself instead of specifying the topics as before.

Tens of thousands demonstrate

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets over the weekend to vent their anger at Bolsonaro. Such behavior could no longer be accepted, said the demonstrators. The country is ruled by a president who is genocidal. And other protesters recalled that more than half a million people had died in the pandemic in Brazil. Now it becomes clear what everyone would have suspected – that there was corruption. It would be madness to hold on to this government.

The supporters still stand by him

The protesters called for Bolsonaro to be removed. But the chances of that are slim, says Stuenkel. The President is still sitting fairly firmly in the saddle. His allies in Congress still stood by him, and the Vice President, who has the most important role in the event of impeachment, has not yet left him.

An impeachment procedure is also unlikely because the most important opposition party, the Labor Party, has no interest in it. You need Bolsonaro as an opponent in the election at the end of 2022.