Bolsonaro administration sought foreign buyers for respirators during pandemic

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the administration of Jair Bolsonaro attempted to market Brazilian-made respirators to international buyers. According to diplomatic telegrams obtained through the Access to Information Law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then led by Ernesto Araújo, issued an “urgentíssimo” (extremely urgent) circular on June 17, 2020.

The directive instructed ten Brazilian embassies to identify potential markets, estimate demand, and gather technical specifications from foreign governments, hospitals, and companies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs justified the move by suggesting that Brazilian production might soon exceed domestic demand, though the documents reportedly lacked data or studies to support this projection.

The diplomatic mobilization targeted embassies in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. This commercial push occurred while Brazil was facing a severe health crisis: on the day the order was issued, the country recorded 1,269 deaths in 24 hours, and the following month saw approximately 32,000 deaths, the highest monthly total in the world at that time.