Since January 2019, the Jair Bolsonaro government has attempted to hinder or withhold information from the country at least 13 times, according to a survey conducted by Folha.
During the period, the federal government tried twice to change the Law of Access to Information, hid research from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation on drugs, and removed the data on police violence from the human rights directory.
The last attempt tried to hide data about the pandemic of the new coronavirus, which until this Sunday (21) had infected 1,086,990 people and left 50,659 dead, according to a survey carried out by a consortium of press vehicles of which Folha is part.
Amid the pandemic, the Ministry of Health has delayed the release of data on the disease. The bulletin that was released at 7 pm was moved to 10 pm.
The folder also went so far as to change the way Covid-19 data was presented - without the cumulative numbers of cases and deaths, with only daily updates. However, after reaction from civil society, Congress, and the Judiciary, the government backed down.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon