April 16, 2020
Brazil’s health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, was fired Thursday after a meeting with President Jair Bolsonaro, ending a series of disagreements that had arisen over the president’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
“I have just heard from President Jair Bolsonaro his announcement of my resignation from the Ministry of Health,” Luiz Enrique Mandetta wrote on his Twitter account.
Mandetta, 55, noted that during his time in office he managed the position with a vision to improve the health of Brazilians and planned how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which he referred to as “the great challenge facing our system.”
Before the meeting with Bolsonaro, Mandetta said there would be a “situation of change in the Ministry” between Thursday and Friday, apparently referring to his imminent departure from the Health Ministry.
At his last press conference, Luiz Henrique Mandetta was given a standing ovation by his staff and officials in the Ministry of Health. In a statement to the press he urged those present to defend the Single Health System (SUS). “Life and science are the pillars that feed the truth. Science is enlightenment.”
During the course of the afternoon, the Ministry of Health reported on its Twitter account that Bolsonaro had appointed oncology specialist Nelson Luiz Sperle Teich to replace Mandetta.
Bolsonaro and Mandetta had differences in how to deal with the coronavirus epidemic in Brazil, which has left 1,924 dead and a total of 30,425 confirmed infections as of Thursday, the most by far of any Latin American country.
The contrast between the president and the now ex-minister was striking. Dr. Mandetta advocated social isolation to curb the pandemic and defended the recommendations issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), while Bolsonaro initially minimized the impact of the coronavirus – calling it “a little cold” – to defend his position of not stopping the economy.
“The side effect of the measures to combat the coronavirus cannot be worse than the disease itself,” he said on April 1. Also, Bolsonaro recently said that the problem of the virus was “starting to disappear.”
Last Sunday, Mandetta contradicted the president and warned the country that Brazil would have hard days in the coming weeks.
In an interview with TV Globo, the former minister was critical, saying, “I hope that this validation of the different models to face this situation can be worked out so that we can have a single and unified speech, because the mixed messages have led the Brazilian people to doubt. Who are they supposed to listen to, The Minister of Health or the President?”
Source: RT, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau