Latin America’s lack of a united front on Covid has had disastrous consequences | Andre Pagliarini

The regional coordination of the pink tide era has given way to various governments, left and right, going it alone

A terse report filed from Sao Paulo, Brazil, appeared in the 17 March 1919 edition of the New York Times. It read: Influenza again has appeared here in epidemic form. The Government is taking steps to prevent the spread of the disease." Just over one hundred years later, faced with another pandemic, the Brazilian government has taken a different approach. President Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right extremist elected in 2018, has repeatedly downplayed the coronavirus, urging citizens to suck it up and get back to work so that the economy can once again get moving.

The president has frequently appeared in public places without a mask, stopping to greet supporters, creating potential super-spreader events as a matter of course. Bolsonaro's recklessness has had terrible consequences: Latin America's largest nation has been ravaged by the pandemic, with more than 13m cases.