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Bolsonaro says Brazil, a virus hot spot with growing political unrest, to host Copa América

June 1, 2021 at 5:34 p.m. EDT
Defending Copa América champion Brazil will host the tournament — as it did in 2019 — after the competition was removed from Colombia and Argentina this month. (Carl De Souza/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

A day after Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro’s chief of staff cast doubt on the country’s ability to host the Copa América soccer tournament, Bolsonaro reaffirmed the nation’s intent to host the continental event.

“As far as it is up to me, and all the ministers, including the health minister, it is all decided,” Bolsonaro said Tuesday while speaking to supporters in the capital, Brasília.

CONMEBOL, the South American soccer body, announced Monday its plans to move the tournament from Argentina to Brazil two weeks before the start of the event. Luiz Eduardo Ramos, Bolsonaro’s chief of staff, said those plans were not finalized later that evening. He added that fans would be barred from games in host cities, which are yet to be announced.

“Nothing is certain but I want to emphasize very clearly that we are in the middle of this process and we are not going to shirk at a request it might be possible to fulfill,” Ramos said during a news conference. “We are checking details. God willing, [Tuesday] we will have a final position.”

The event’s original co-hosts, Colombia and Argentina, were ruled out in recent weeks after political protests and an increase in coronavirus cases in those countries. But as the competition nears, Brazil faces its own protests as it braces for a new wave of infections.

Bolsonaro’s popularity has plummeted during the pandemic, which has killed more than 462,000 Brazilians — the world’s second-highest death toll behind the United States. The far-right politician downplayed its severity, squandered emergency pandemic funds on ineffective treatments and told Brazilians to “stop whining” about the virus as a new variant contributed to a spike in deaths across the country.

His handling of the crisis sparked a Senate inquiry and protests in at least 16 cities across the country Saturday, where some called for his impeachment and demanded more vaccine doses. Several governors have opposed hosting Copa América games in their states, and on Tuesday a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered Bolsonaro to submit information about the government’s decision to host the tournament.

Brazil won the Copa América when the country hosted the tournament in 2019. That year’s event, which brought in $118 million, was CONMEBOL’s second-biggest annual source of revenue after the Copa Libertadores, its continental club tournament. This year’s event was originally scheduled to take place last summer but was postponed because of the pandemic.

CONMEBOL uprooted the tournament from Argentina on Sunday as the country navigates one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks. It has the third-most infections and the fourth-most deaths per 100,000 residents in the past week.

Despite a record surge in daily cases and deaths, Argentina President Alberto Fernández offered to stage the entire tournament in his country last week following CONMEBOL’s May 20 decision to remove Colombia, which has seen escalating cases, deaths and police violence in the wake of protests against President Iván Duque’s botched tax overhaul.

The risk of holding the tournament in Argentina led some players to speak out. That included Uruguayan star Luis Suarez, who told reporters Friday, “We have to give priority to the health of human beings.”

Upset by the move and its potential health risks, some Argentine players have contacted colleagues from competing national teams to lobby for a collective effort to stop the tournament from taking place, according to ESPN.

“From what I heard in Brazil, they have closed the borders, too. It is very difficult to give an opinion. We the players want to play. It is clear. The issue is to find a good place to play,” Argentine star Sergio Agüero said.

The tournament is set to be played from June 13 to July 10. CONMEBOL rejected Colombia’s request for another rescheduling earlier this month.

This year’s Copa América would have been the first hosted by two countries. That dynamic offered the opportunity for a new format in which 10 teams would be split evenly in each host country and the top four in each group would advance to the knockout stage. The final was originally set to be played in Colombia. Group A features Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, and Group B includes Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host, and Australia were scheduled to compete as intercontinental guests, but both withdrew in February because of scheduling conflicts. South American teams have started training for the tournament and World Cup qualifiers, which start this week.

The tournament relocation comes as many South American countries endure rising daily virus cases and deaths and some struggle with slow vaccine rollouts.

Of the 10 countries with the world’s most daily cases and deaths per 100,000 residents this past week, six are South American. Brazil is ninth in daily cases and seventh in deaths. About 10 percent of its population has been fully vaccinated.