President Jair Bolsonaro, seeing his popularity drop in Brazil’s impoverished northeast, visited the region on Monday after heavy rains left more than 90 dead and 5,000 homeless over the past few days.
The president, who’s up for re-election in October, flew with several cabinet members over areas where mudslides buried dozens of people in the state of Pernambuco. The region has been suffering with torrential rain for a week.
“Unfortunately these catastrophes happen,” he told reporters in Recife, the state’s capital. “We are all obviously saddened and I’m here to express my condolences to the families of the victims.”
Bolsonaro’s show of support in Recife contrasts with his decision to not interrupt a beach vacation to visit the northeastern state of Bahia late last year, when heavy rains also left several dead and many cities underwater. At the occasion, opposition lawmakers and even government allies criticized him.
Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva leads the presidential campaign in northeastern states with 62% of the votes, according to the latest Datafolha poll published last week. Bolsonaro trails with only 17% of the votes there, his worst performance in the country’s five regions.
