Bolsonaro's Conviction Brings Emotional Vindication to Brazilians Bereaved by COVID-19

Simone Guimarães, a 52-year-old retired teacher from Rio de Janeiro, lost at least five close relatives to COVID-19: her husband, her sister, two brothers-in-law and the godfather of her grandchild. Like many others who mourned during the pandemic, she also lost friends and neighbors. On Saturday she woke to news that Brazil's Supreme Court had ordered the preemptive arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro — a development she linked to the losses she and many others endured.

"It's a small beginning of justice starting to be served," Guimarães said. "Impunity has to end at some point. And in his case, we endured a lot." Social media filled with tributes to COVID victims after the arrest order, echoing a similar surge of remembrance when the court delivered its conviction in September — even though that case was tied to an attempted coup, not the government's pandemic policies.

Personal grief and public outrage

Many Brazilians who lost loved ones to COVID-19 say Bolsonaro's conviction and detention provide emotional relief — a sense of vindication — even if they do not amount to legal accountability for pandemic-era decisions. Diego Orsi, a 41-year-old translator in São Paulo, expressed frustration that the current conviction addresses the coup attempt rather than alleged pandemic misconduct.

"I would have preferred that he was arrested for allowing 700,000 Brazilians to die," Orsi said. "But since he is being tried and convicted for other crimes, it cleanses our soul. It gives us a sense that justice has been served."

How politics split families

The pandemic deepened political divides inside households. Orsi grew up with his cousin Henrique Cavalari; the two were close as children but drifted apart politically. Cavalari ran a motorcycle repair shop, continued working through the pandemic and supported Bolsonaro's rallies. Cavalari died from COVID-19 in June 2021 at 41, just weeks before he would have been eligible for a vaccine under the phased rollout.

Similarly, Fábio de Maria, a 45-year-old teacher in São Paulo, said his father died about 15 days before he would have been eligible for a first dose. Families like Orsi's and de Maria's remain divided, and many survivors say the recent legal developments will not heal those rifts or replace the desire for direct answers about pandemic policy decisions.

What investigators and researchers say

Brazil has recorded more than 700,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19 since 2020, the world's second-highest toll after the United States. Researchers at the Federal University of Pelotas estimated in 2021 that roughly four in five of those deaths could have been avoided if federal authorities had backed stronger containment measures and moved faster to secure vaccines.

Critics point to repeated delays in signing vaccine contracts and to public comments by the former president that questioned vaccine safety and mocked public-health measures. Bolsonaro and his defenders deny wrongdoing related to the pandemic. Separate investigations into the government's pandemic actions remain under way, including a Senate committee recommendation in 2021 that cited a range of alleged offenses — from misuse of public funds to crimes against humanity — and a later Supreme Court order expanding an inquiry that is now sealed.

Political consequences

Analysts say Bolsonaro's pandemic stance — and his public denials about the virus — helped erode his support and contributed to his 2022 election defeat. As the president resisted national public-health directives, state and local governments imposed their own measures; the Supreme Court affirmed their authority to do so. That tension between the presidency and institutions heightened political polarization across Brazil.

For many bereaved families, the conviction tied to the coup attempt provides a form of emotional closure even as broader questions about pandemic accountability remain unresolved. The legal processes continue, and for survivors like Guimarães, Orsi and de Maria the struggle to reconcile grief, anger and a desire for concrete answers endures.

Reported by Eléonore Hughes.