Covid-19: the health collapse that took crowds to the streets and threatens Paraguay's president
Protesters include health professionals and relatives of victims of covid
The Paraguayans completed on Monday (08/03) four days in a row of protests against the lack of medicines and supplies for the care of the victims of coronavirus and against the government of President Mario Abdo Benítez. The crisis of the last few days has already brought down the Minister of Health and started the movements of Paraguayan congressmen to carry out the impeachment of the president.
Abdo Benítez, who took office in 2018 and almost lost his position the following year, was once again in the sights of the opposition, his own acronym (the Colorado Party) and the streets.
Deputies of the opposition Liberal Radical Authentic Party (PLRA) announced that they will enter the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, with a request for the president's political judgment to remove him.
The new political crisis occurs when the country has registered an escalation of coronavirus cases. Of the less than 100 daily cases that it registered, Brazil's neighbor now has about 1,500 notifications of the disease. The health system situation at this stage of the pandemic, a year after the first case of covid-19 was registered, was the last straw, say Paraguayan analysts, to popular dissatisfaction.
A country with just over seven million inhabitants, Paraguay has one of the most fragile health systems in South America, according to international surveys.
With more than 70% of the population dependent on the needy public system, the government closed its borders, including with Brazil, in the first months of the pandemic and had been praised by Paraguayan sectors for avoiding the calamity seen in other countries in the region, such as Peru , in Bolivia and in Brazilian cities, such as Manaus.
The picture changed when the first corruption scandals emerged in the pandemic, and when restrictive measures to prevent the spread of the virus began to be relaxed. In addition, the now ex-Minister of Health, who is a childhood friend of the president, has been accused by opponents of failing to carry out efficient management in the pandemic.
"In Paraguay, there is a lack of hospitals, health posts, supplies, and even doctors. The health system was already like that before the pandemic. At first, the government took all measures to prevent a major collapse of the health system. coronavirus health.
As it was an emergency, he made purchases from China without bidding, complaints of irregularities arose, bids were resumed and the slowness in the arrival of inputs increased, "said political and economic analyst Fernando Masi, from the Center for Analysis and Dissemination of Paraguayan Economy (Cadep) Paraguay dedicates only 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the health system, when the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 6%, Masi noted.
On Friday, on the first day of demonstrations, the Minister of Health, Julio Mazzoleni, left office, and the next day, the President announced the departure of three other ministers, in addition to informing, through his office, that all ministers should make the position available.
"I am a person of dialogue and not of confrontation, and my commitment is to listen to everyone, paying attention to all criticism. I am aware that people expect changes and I will make them," said the president, over the weekend. After his speech on Saturday, the demonstrations continued.
This Monday, during the transmission of the inauguration of two new advisors to the Presidency, through social networks, Internet users wrote 'Fuera Marito (as the president is known)', 'Fuera inútiles' (' Fora Marito 'and' Fora useless ')' Fuerza presidente '(Força president), reflecting the social and political environment of Brazil's neighbor.
In the four days of protests, protesters took to the streets with signs that said "corrupt government" and asking for the resignation of Abdo Benítez. The wave of protests began on Friday in the center of Asunción, the Paraguayan capital, when the police violently repressed, leaving twenty-one people injured and one man, 32-year-old Alejandro Daniel Florentín, according to local media.
Health professionals took to the streets to protest the lack of inputs
Impeachment
With 29 votes, opponents do not have enough votes to remove the president, as 53 votes are needed for his impeachment. Analysts indicate that the PLRA initiative contributes to pressure against the president, but "without him falling, so far".
The broader, more decisive and influential sector of the Colorado Party, which is Honor Colorado, linked to ex-president Horacio Cartes, predecessor of Abdo Benítez, would have already decided not to support the president's political judgment.
An influential politician in the caption, Cartes is a businessman from different branches, including cigarettes and football, and with accusations of irregularities. The door to the ex-president's home has been one of the addresses of the demonstrations in Asunción, as has the National Congress. With his influence on the party in 2019, it was Cartes' stance that endorsed and then prevented the impeachment of Abdo Benítez, highlighting the party's internal disputes, according to local analysts.
In that impeachment process, which also involved the vice president, the reason was an agreement signed with Brazil that renegotiated the purchase of energy from the Itaipu binational hydroelectric plant and that was seen as "secret" and "harmful" to Paraguay.
After hours of tension and expectations, the agreement was shelved and Abdo Benítez remained in office after the support of the Colorado Party. Abdo Benítez was elected to term until 2023 and, this time, as published by the ABC Color newspaper, in Asunción, the 'chartists', linked to the former president, support the continuity of the current president, but with a greater presence in the government, through of positions.
"Co-government of Marito e Cartes", published the daily on its cover.
Several hospitals are 100% full
'Golden masks'
One of the first scandals pointing out irregularities was what became known as 'Tapabocas de oro' ('Golden masks'), when complaints of overpriced purchases of protection against the coronavirus emerged. The complaints, which ended up in court, also included the purchase of beds and other inputs from China and led to the dismissal of the director of Civil Aeronautics.
To try to alleviate the lack of resources for the pandemic, last year, the government of Abdo Benítez obtained loans with international organizations and issued bonds in the financial market, allocating US $ 600 million to the health system.
But the acceleration of cases and the dependence on the public health system, now better prepared for the care of coronavirus victims, has meant that even those with a health plan turn to public hospitals for care against the disease, according to hospital directors. There are cases where the bed occupancy reaches 100%, in one of the most dramatic moments of the pandemic in the country that registers, in the last days, 1.5 thousand cases of coronavirus per day, with a total of more than 165 thousand infected and more than 3 thousand Deaths.
In the demonstrations, family members of the victims of the disease said that, in many cases, they themselves must buy the indicated drugs and that they do not come cheap, the local press reported.
Donations from Chile
With few cash resources and debt problems with the local pharmaceutical industry, as reported by Paraguayan sources, Paraguay received only four thousand doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine for health personnel and promised the arrival of four million doses by the Covax consortium. Facility, still with no exact date for disembarkation.
In this environment of uncertainty, Chile said it would send twenty thousand doses of vaccines to the Paraguayans.
A country with around seventeen million inhabitants, Chile bought, in advance, last year, immunizers from various manufacturers, to vaccinate its entire population - and even more. Until last month, calculations pointed to the acquisition of 35 million doses of vaccines against covid. The Chilean government's goal is to vaccinate the entire population at risk in the first half of this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment