In a completely different style than his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro – who had strutted before the press after being tested positive for Covid -, Bolivian interim president Jeanine Añez posted a terse message on social networks Thursday, July 9, in turn contaminated. “I’m positive at Covid-19, I’m fine”, before adding that she immediately entered the fortnight and would work virtually in the affairs of her country.
Several days earlier, several members of his cabinet had been diagnosed with coronavirus, prompting the 53-year-old right-wing leader to also undergo a test. This is the case of his Minister of the Presidency, first, of mines, then, then finally of the Minister of Health, Eidy Roca, replaced urgently by the Minister of Defense, who will ensure the two portfolios for the time of his convalescence. Sunday July 12, it was the Minister of the Economy, freshly appointed a few days earlier (July 7), to declare himself ill.
A real slaughter in the government, which instills a little more uncertainty among Bolivians, shaken by both the health crisis and a political crisis, since the forced departure of Evo Morales after the disputed elections of October 2019 .
So far, the epidemic has officially left 1,807 dead and 48,187 sick. A significant figure compared to the size of the population of 11 million inhabitants, but far behind the dramatic levels of its Brazilian, Chilean and Peruvian neighbors.
“Political manipulation”
According to the chief epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health, Virgilio Prieto, the situation is likely to become more critical in the coming weeks. Cases are currently on the rise: “They double every three or four days depending on the city”, he says, and Bolivia could enter a phase of “Explosive pandemic”, where the health system and contaminations would be ” out of control “.
The Bolivian government had however taken measures very early, as of March 17, closing the borders and placing the population in containment. Measures extended for one month by decree, June 27. However, as in neighboring Peru, the government has decided to give more flexibility to reactivate the economy and bring some air to families, strangled by the fall in activity. In fact, the working population, made up largely of informal workers (70%), had started to leave again and cases went up, especially in the region of Santa Cruz, the country’s largest city and economic heart with 2 million inhabitants, which concentrates the vast majority of the sick.
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