Brazil Extends Closure of Land Borders by 30 days Amid Virus Threat
HAVANA TIMES – The Brazilian government has extended the closure of its land borders by 30 days as it struggles to contain the worst national coronavirus outbreak in Latin America, reported dpa news.
The new rule means that foreigners cannot cross the border into Brazil from any of its 10 neighboring countries but exempts the transport of goods and humanitarian aid.
Brazil has a coronavirus caseload of more than 8,000 – the largest of any country in Latin America. More than 320 have died of Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused by critics of a lax and dangerous response to the outbreak. There have been protests across the nation following comments he made downplaying the threat of Covid-19.
In an interview on Thursday, Bolsonaro referred to Rio de Janeiro state’s decision to ban access to the region’s beaches as “dictatorial.”
“Ban people from going to the beach? My God!” the far-right president said in an interview shared on Youtube by his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro.
[Known by many as the Brazilian Trump, Bolsonaro has mostly followed the lead of the US president by first not taking the pandemic seriously and then being forced to take some actions to try and stop it.]
Brazil like so many Latin American countries, lurches from one political extreme to another. That makes having common cause impossible with the consequences being self-evident.