“We communicate that on this night (October 21) the Lord Jesus took for himself our beloved brother, Senator Arolde de Oliveira. Deceased victim of covid-19 and as a result of organ failure. The family thanks you for your affection and prayers, ”said the senator’s official account on the social network Twitter.
The octogenarian, an ally of the President, Jair Bolsonaro, was a businessman and had an extensive political career. After nine terms as a federal deputy, he came to the Senate in the 2018 elections.
Since the arrival of the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, officially registered in the country on February 26, the senator has opposed the social isolation measures enacted by governors and mayors and referred to the new coronavirus as “Chinese virus”.
“The numbers of the Chinese virus in the world and in Brazil demonstrate the futility of social isolation. Authorities, alarmists for convenience, destroyed the productive sector and created millions of unemployed. The President Jair Bolsonaro was right from the beginning, “Oliveira Arolde tweeted in April.
In another position, the senator argued that Covid-19 would not have the same impact in Europe as it was having in Europe.
“Let us not be idiots (…) In Italy the climate is cold, the population is elderly, there is a high number of smokers. It is not our case. Brazil cannot stop, ”said the politician.
The Brazilian senator also publicly expressed his support for Jair Bolsonaro and the way the head of state was skeptical about the seriousness of the pandemic, defending a rapid economic reopening.
“We call on patriots, committed to the nation, to continue to support President Jair Bolsonaro without restriction, who is wise to avoid panic. Chaos only interests Brazil’s enemies (lefts and allies that devastated the country), full of irresponsible people ”, he said, in the same social network.
The senator, who was in the risk group of covid-19 and who was admitted to an intensive care unit in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, ended up not resisting the disease.
The Senate of Brazil decreed an official three-day mourning.
“It is with sadness that I received the news that we lost Senator Arolde de Oliveira. Unfortunately, another Brazilian lost his life as a result of this virus that has already claimed more than 150 thousand people in our country. (…) The Federal Senate decrees official mourning in honor of the senator’s memory. A sad day for this house, ”said Senate President Davi Alcolumbre in a statement.
Several senators mourned the death of Arolde de Oliveira, which occurred on the day that Brazil exceeded 155 thousand deaths due to the covid-19.
Brazil is the Portuguese-speaking country most affected by the pandemic and one of the hardest hit in the world, when counting the second number of deaths (over 5.2 million cases and 155,403 deaths), after the United States.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 1.1 million deaths and more than 41.3 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report made by the French agency AFP.
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