Pandemic, environment and women; check out the highlights of the first presidential debate

Sunday (28) the first debate between presidential candidates was held on TV Bandeirantes. Among questions and answers, pandemic, environment, and women were the topics that caused the most reactions from participants and on social networks.

Pandemic

Simone Tebet (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) recalled the current president’s stance during the pandemic and criticized Bolsonaro’s administration (Liberal Party). 

“We have just got out of the pandemic, or maybe not, a situation which could have been better managed if we had a president sensitive to the pain of others. Regrettably, when the country needed most the president, he turned his back on the bereaved families and refused [to provide] vaccines to the Brazilian people”, said Tebet, who insisted on criticizing Bolsonaro. 

“A 45-day delay in the purchasing of vaccines. How many families lost their sons and daughters prematurely? I did not see the president ride his motorcycle to a hospital to give a hug to a mother who had lost her son. I saw more than this: I saw the corruption scandal in the purchasing of vaccines as if life is worth US$ 1”, she concluded. 

Environment 

When asking Felipe D’Ávila (New Party), former President Lula (Workers' Party) recalled the statements made by former Brazil's Minister of the Environment and Bolsonaro supporter Ricardo Salles (currently a member of the Liberal Party, but previously a member of the New Party) about "running the cattle herd" in environmental policy.

“No respectable businessman will start fires or destroy [a] biome. He will not. Nevertheless, there are government officials who encourage it. We had a minister who used to say 'run the cattle herd'. I had the pleasure of being Brazil’s president, and I attended COP 15, in Copenhagen. There, we made the commitment, endorsed in Paris, to reduce deforestation by 80% and the greenhouse effect by 39%. We became a reference. But today, people see Brazil as a country that does not take the environmental issue seriously", Lula said. 

In April 2020, during a meeting of the Federal’s executive branch, the then Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, warned the other ministers about what he considered an opportunity presented by the pandemic. “To [achieve] this, we need to make some efforts while we are At this moment of serenity regarding media coverage – because they just talk about covid – and run the cattle herd, changing all the regulations and simplifying norms,” said Salles.

“The recovery of the economy will depend on environment policy," said the New Party candidate. According to him, the federal government “must support Brazilian agribusiness, which is the sector that suffers most from deforestation”. Brazil's agribusiness is the most sustainable in the world. There isn’t another country that maintains 30% of environmental legal reserves in Pantanal [Brazil’s wetlands] or 80% [of environmental legal reserves] in the cocoa plantations in the north region. 

Misogyny 

President Jair Bolsonaro attacked journalist Vera Magalhães and candidate Simone Tebet during the debate. When asked about the disinformation spreading against covid-19 vaccines, Bolsonaro reacted furiously.

“Over the past few years, vaccination coverage has been falling. How may disinformation spread by the president contribute to the covid pandemic?" she questioned. 

“Vera, I expected nothing less from you. You think about me in your sleep. You must have a crush on me. You can’t take part in a debate like this and spread lies and accusations about me. You are an embarrassment to Brazilian journalism”.

After the attack, Bolsonaro criticized the covid inquiry commission and said that Simone Tebet was “a shame to the Senate”. “I’m not attacking women. Don’t come to me to say you’re a victim”, he said.

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