Politicians criticize Bolsonaro’s lack of assistance for flood victims in Bahia

Victória Sales – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – In the opposite of attitudes to help Bahia after a natural tragedy that has resulted in 24 deaths, the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), kept the vacations in Santa Catarina with family and friends. The representative’s decision was criticized by Jair’s allies at the Planalto Palace and generated comments among Internet users on social networks.

But, despite disapproving the president’s attitudes and even with the distance between the destination of the vacation trip and the state of Bahia, Bolsonaro has maintained contact with the ministers who are ahead of the issue, and, because of this, according to these allies, the government’s actions did not need to be harmed.

According to the newspaper O Globo, one of the ministers admitted that the president determined that it was not to cancel the rest period, which ended up generating inconvenience. Also according to the newspaper, the minister revealed that Bolsonaro lacked “empathy” because he himself stayed two days in his own clothes supervising the actions in southern Bahia.

On social networks, the governor of Bahia, Rui Costa, took advantage of the moment to criticize the president. “Governing is taking care of people and there is no way to do that away from people. I’ve been in southern Bahia since Sunday, visiting the cities affected by the heavy rains and I can say that the damage goes beyond the cities’ headquarters and houses”, he said.

Rui also said that especially in rural areas there are many destroyed bridges, which represents a huge loss: “One of the cities we visited today was Ibirataia and we have already decided to build about 50 houses to remove people who are living in precarious conditions by the river, in flooded shacks”, he reported.

Still on social networks, the state representative criticized the arrival of federal resources. “Even if federal resources do not come, the state government will rebuild all the houses and the cities that were destroyed by the rains in Bahia. We will establish priorities and, throughout 2022, in partnership with the municipalities, we will guarantee decent housing for people”, he explained.