Brazil, a country with almost half a million deaths from covid-19, will host the Copa América, a controversial decision that has generated a wave of criticism from left-wing and health sectors, and that could end up in court, in moments in which the country is experiencing an upturn in infections.
The South American Soccer Confederation (Conmebol), the highest soccer authority in the region, announced Brazil as the new and only venue for the tournament that was already postponed last year due to the pandemic, which in 2021 has hit Latin America more strongly .
At first, Colombia and Argentina were going to host the contest. The first was forced to renounce it due to the violent protests in its territory and the second, due to the critical situation of its hospitals.
In the end, Conmebol announced to Brazil, which still counts about 2,000 deaths per day from coronavirus, and specifically thanked the president, Jair Bolsonaro, who denies the severity of the covid, for “opening the doors” of the country to the Cup America, which is expected to begin on June 13.
The decision exceeds the limits of sports and comes two days after tens of thousands of Brazilians protested in the streets against the Bolsonaro government.
The Brazilian head of state currently has the worst popularity ratings since he assumed power on January 1, 2019, and the celebration of the Copa América could increase that social discontent a year and a half after the 2022 elections, at that pretends to present itself.
In the only demonstration within the public government so far, Vice President Hamilton Mourao assured that holding the tournament in Brazil is “less risky” than doing it in Argentina, although the statistics say otherwise.
With 462,000 deaths and 16.5 million infected, Brazil is the Latin American country most affected by the coronavirus; the second in the world with the most deaths, after the United States, and the third with the most positive deaths, behind the North Americans and India.
The decision of the Bolsonaro government contrasts with that taken in 1918, when the Brazilian authorities of the time chose to postpone the South American Championship (today Copa América) due to the advance of the “Spanish flu.”
LAWSUIT BEFORE THE SUPREME AND REJECTION OF THE LEFT
The Workers’ Party (PT) of Brazil, led by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, an ally of Argentine President Alberto Fernández, was among the first to oppose hosting the Copa América.
“This is serious? In the midst of the pandemic, the arrival of the third wave, at risk due to lack of beds and supplies and with slow vaccination? Incredible! “, Said on social networks the president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann.
In parallel, the deputy of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) Julio Delgado announced that he will file a lawsuit before the Supreme Court to prohibit the holding of the tournament in the country, where Justice has been a decisive actor in endorsing the sanitary measures anticovid that Bolsonaro censors.
There have also been voices from the center-right against it, such as that of Senator Renan Calheiros, the instructor of a commission installed in the Senate that investigates possible “omissions” of the Government in the confrontation with the pandemic.
The influential parliamentarian called the Copa América a “championship of death” and a “union of deniers” to the Government, Conmebol and the CBF.
SANITARY AGAINST: «PSYCHOPAT’S DECISION»
Epidemiological specialists consulted by Efe also flatly refused to host the Copa América in a Brazil, which after a few weeks of slight truce, has seen the rate of covid-19 infections grow since the beginning of May.
“It is a psychopathic decision. It’s total madness, “Raquel Stucchi, an infectologist at the University of Campinas and consultant for the Brazilian Society of Infectology (SBI), told EFE.
In the last seven days, Brazil has reported an average of about 62,000 infections and 2,000 deaths associated with covid-19.
With a still very high incidence, the country has become a “granary” for new variants of SARS-CoV-2, including P.1, which emerged in Manaus and is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a strain of global ‘concern’.
DIVISION AMONG GOVERNORS
Without yet knowing which cities will host the parties, the Pernambuco state government (northeast) has already announced that it is not in a position to receive them.
However, the governor of the Federal District of Brasilia, Ibaneis Rocha, said he has “nothing against” this possibility.
For his part, Joao Doria, the governor of Sao Paulo, the Brazilian state worst hit by the pandemic, did not oppose it, although he stressed that his priority is “saving lives.”
Meanwhile, in social networks some users with great sarcasm proposed as mascots of the America’s Cup to «coroninha» and «covidinho». EFE (HN)