Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro criticized lockdown measures by governors even as the nation turned into a global epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Health Ministry on Sunday reported 162,699 total cases of COVID-19 and 11,123 deaths, among the world's highest.
"The head of household has to stay at home going hungry with their family," Bolsonaro said Sunday in a tweet attacking the lockdown in Maranhao state. "Millions already feel like they are living in Venezuela."
The president said he plans on Monday to declare more jobs as essential in an effort to get Brazilians back to work, adding that "since they (the governors) don't want to open, we (the federal government) will."
Bolsonaro seems ready to blame the looming economic recession on quarantine measures taken by state governors, a strategy that may prove risky in the face of rising COVID-19 deaths. Since the pandemic began, the leader has already lost two ministers and is currently facing a ballooning political crisis as well.
On Friday, he announced to reporters that he would attend a barbecue party at the presidential palace Saturday afternoon, adding that he expected thousands of people there. It was unclear how serious Bolsonaro was about his plans: some interpreted it seriously and in keeping with his past behavior, while others saw him as making a sardonic joke. Either way, the barbecue was canceled Saturday.
Instead, the president was seen on video in Brasilia on Saturday steering a jet ski around Paranoa Lake.
When challenged outside the presidential palace on Sunday by a person who shouted that democracy demanded his resignation or impeachment, the president responded, "I'll leave on January 1, 2027." He said he would not comment further with the press. "If I speak, it will cause controversy."
