Brazilians Want Bolsonaro Out After a New Corruption Scandal

In Brazil, social movements, trade unions, and human rights activists on Saturday demonstrated in at least 350 cities to condemn the recent corruption scandal linking President Jair Bolsonaro with the purchase at inflated prices of Indian-produced Covaxin COVID-19 vaccines.

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The protests supported the impeachment petition submitted by unions, left political parties and social organizations to the Lower House on Wednesday. 

The nationwide mobilizations come after the Senate Commission of Inquiry on the Pandemic (CPI) ruled that Bolsonaro knew about the overbilling in the purchase of Covaxin doses.

Besides the approval of an emergency aid payment to people in vulnerable situations, demonstrators demanded to speed up the pace of vaccinations.

Local outlet Folha de Sao Paulo unveiled that businessman Luiz Dominguetti had confirmed a bribe offer to raise the cost of 400 million AstraZeneca vaccines by one dollar per dose.

"Over 522.000 Brazilian deaths could have been avoided if the government had purchased the vaccine soon enough," Central Unitary Workers' Union Vice President Vagner Freitas said.

"Everyone knows Bolsonaro is the one to blame for this tragedy and this misgovernment," he added.