Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday said he is willing to deploy the army on the streets if governors and mayors continue to enforce quarantines confinements and curfews.
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"If I decree it, it will be enforced. Our Armed Forces can go to the streets to enforce the fifth article of the constitution on freedom of movement in the national territory in times of peace," Bolsonaro said.
The president called the measures restricting movement and economic activities as "cowardly and absurd" and added that they would only generate chaos due to hunger.
Besides being nostalgic for the last Brazilian dictatorship (1964-1985), Bolsonaro's mismanagement of the pandemic has put at risk not only Brazilians but the entire Latin America region, according to statements by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Brazilian government's late and not strong enough response to the pandemic has resulted in one of the highest death tolls in the world with a daily average of 3000 deaths.
As of Saturday morning, Brazil had reported over 14 million COVID-19 cases and 386,623 deaths.