In a vivid show of criticism of the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazilians dug 100 graves and placed black crosses in the sand of Rio's Copacabana beach on 11 June, reported The Telegraph.
The move was seen as a tribute to the over 40,000 people who have died from the respiratory disease so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The country has become a major epicenter of the global pandemic, with over 802, 800 registered cases of the infection to date, second only to the United States.
"The president has not realized that this is one of the most dramatic crises in Brazil's history. Families are mourning thousands of dead, and there is unemployment and hunger... We are here to demand a change of attitude from the president... who must understand that our nation is facing the most difficult moment in its history," said Antonio Carlos Costa, the organizer of the action, in a reference to President Jair Bolsonaro.
Barrage of Criticism
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has been fending off a barrage of criticism from experts, who claim the country’s statistics on the coronavirus pandemic are deficient and in some instances manipulated. Moreover, the central government has been condemned for numerous perceived failings in its handling of the outbreak.
On 6 June the country’s health ministry said it would stop publishing a running total of coronavirus deaths and infections, reporting only cases and deaths in the past 24 hours, with critics pronouncing the move as aimed at concealing the true toll of the disease in the Latin American nation.
Critics have deplored Jair Bolsonaro’s attempts from the outset of the epidemic to downplay its gravity. The President has also been adamantly opposing attempts to impose quarantines, curfews and social distancing, arguing that these measures would potentially have a more damaging fallout for the economy than the health crisis.
Dismissing the COVID-19 outbreak as a "media trick" and no more than a "little flu", Bolsonaro had publicly ridiculed quarantine restrictions.
The President was quoted by Ultimo Segundo in late March as saying:
"We will all die one day."
The President also slammed lockdown measures imposed by local authorities, accusing state governors and mayors of seeking to use the pandemic for achieving political gains.
The current developments come as experts warn of a looming social crisis in Latin America triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The health crisis could trigger the region's "worst recession in history", according to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).