“I have nothing to do with your son’s eye. Take a plane and go. You won’t go through here.” This is what a supporter of Brazil’s outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro told a desperate father begging him to end the roadblock between the central Brazilian cities of Sorriso and Cuiabá so that his nine-year-old son would not miss a crucial surgery to repair his cornea.

The father’s pleas fell on deaf ears. His son and the 24 other patients on the same medical transport bus all missed their appointments.

This, sadly, is Brazil’s new reality.

Since Bolsonaro lost his attempt to secure another term as Brazil’s president in October, thousands of his most fanatical supporters have been occupying major roads across the country, demanding – despite there not being any evidence of fraud – the election be overturned or the military intervene to keep the far-right leader in power.

Full article at Al Jazeera’s website. Date of publication: 09/12/2022.