By Leonardo Benassatto and Brian Ellsworth
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilians paid tribute to friends and family who died from the coronavirus in Sao Paulo on Sunday by writing messages on a mural on a secondary street honoring the other 680,000 people Brazil has lost to the pandemic. .
In July, the South American country recorded the third-highest number of deaths from the disease in the world, which critics of President Jair Bolsonaro have as a result of delays in obtaining vaccines and his repeated rejection of the seriousness of the disease.
On bustling Paulista Avenue, which is closed to vehicular traffic Sunday, participants wrote messages with red markers on a white mural, some pasted in combination remembering the lost and enjoyed.
“My partner probably would have survived if the vaccine had been purchased in September 2020,” said Fatima Oliver, 65, an occupational therapist, whose spouse died at age 66 from COVID-19. “What we saw was an insult. We have witnessed a crime, we have witnessed the trivialization of death.
Representatives of the Terena and Guarani tribes joined the protest, some dressed in black and red headdresses and face paint.
“I think it is vital for us to pay tribute to such a vital moment in our lives, to all those who have lost someone,” said María Botafogo, who wrote a message to a math teacher who said it had been vital for her. .
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who faces Bolsonaro in a presidential runoff on Oct. 30, lashed out at the president’s reaction to the pandemic on his election campaign.
Bolsonaro supporters say Lula politicized the factor and argue that the vaccine rollout is in line with that of other developed countries.
“The corporations that developed the vaccines, first used them in their own country,” said Jackson Vilar, 43, who collected signatures in favor of Bolsonaro on Sunday on the same boulevard.
“The left takes that and uses it for all kinds of politicking, it’s ugly. “
(Reporting by Leonardo Benassatto and Brian Ellsworth in Sao Paulo; Editing through Bill Berkrot)
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