RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Anti-government protesters took to the streets in more than a score of cities across Brazil on Saturday as the nation's confirmed death toll from COVID-19 soared past half a million — a tragedy many critics blame on President Jair Bolsonaro's attempt to minimize the disease.

Thousands gathered in downtown Rio de Janeiro waving flags with slogans such as "Get out Bolsonaro. Government of hunger and unemployment."

"Brazil is experiencing a great setback. The country was an exemplary country for vaccination in the world. We have widely recognized institutions, but today we are in a sad situation," said Isabela Gouljor, a 20-year-old student who joined the protest in Rio.

Other marchers hoisted posters reading: "500 thousand deaths. It's his fault," alluding to Bolsonaro.

Similar marches took place in at least 22 or Brazil's 26 states, as well as in the Federal District, Brasilia. They were promoted by left-wing opposition parties who have been heartened by Bolsonaro's declining poll ratings with next year's presidential race looming.

"Get out Bolsonaro, genocidal," yelled Rio demonstrators, some of them wearing t-shirts or masks with the image of former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — who leads Bolsonaro in some polls.

In São Paulo, protesters dropped red balloons as a tribute to the victims of the virus.

Bolsonaro's supporters have taken more often to the streets over the past month, in large part because many agree with his dismissal of restrictions meant to stifle the coronavirus and anger that lockdown measures have hurt businesses.

Critics say such messages, as well as Bolsonaro's promotion of disproven treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, have contributed to the soaring death toll and a sluggish vaccine campaign that has fully inoculated less than 12% of the population. The country of some 213 million people is registering nearly 100,000 new infections and 2,000 deaths a day.

"For the leftists, putting their followers in the streets is a way of wearing Bolsonaro down for the election," said Leandro Consentino, a political science professor at Insper, a university in Sao Paulo. "But at the same, time they are contradicting themselves and losing the discourse of maintaining health care, because they are causing the same agglomerations as Bolsonaro."

Saturday's marches came a week after Bolsonaro led a massive motorcycle parade of supporters in Sao Paulo, though his allies and foes differ dramatically on the size of that event.

"Bolsonaro needs to show that he maintains significant support to give a message of strength to those who are investigating the actions of his government in Congress," Consentino said.
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There’s a tradition in Brazil.

When a kid turns fifteen, they get a big party or a group trip to Orlando away from their parents.

Usually, the latter wins.

"Everybody wants to come to Orlando. Disney is the best thing ever. It’s, when you are 15, everybody dreams to see Mickey, Minnie," says Victor Costa. He works for Pegaus Transportation, one of more than a dozen Orlando companies that cater to Brazilian conventioneers, retirees, and fifteen-year-olds like Olivia Ramos and Gabriela Maria. They arrived with a group just six days after the shooting. For them, it was a shock.

“Brazil thinks that in Orlando, everything is perfect. It was weird because we never heard about crime in Orlando, and the week that I’m coming, I heard about so much things and I get worried," says Ramos.

"It’s a problem that we can find in everywhere, like in Brazil, have this problem. But when we actually see something that big happen, I heard everyone telling how shaken that are," Maria adds.

But worries about the shooting weren’t strong enough for parents to change plans at the last minute. Rocco Arcuri from Pegasus says the death of a two year old by an alligator at Disney caused more anxiety.

“We’ve had concern from people, especially the mothers of the children with the gator attack. That hit a little bit more home, I think, than the other shooting to the international side.”

Arcuri says it’s because tourists tend to think Orlando and Disney are the same thing.

Out of a group of more than 200 kids, there was one cancellation.

Within twenty-four hours of hopping off the plane, Ramos and the other fifteen-year-olds were hopping onto a coach bus headed to the Magic Kingdom.

“We should be careful in all places in the whole world. I will not let this like ruin my trip," Ramos resolves.

And according to Visit Orlando, the city’s tourism arm, other tourists have been thinking the same way in the midst of the tragedies.

“We’ve seen no indications of anyone making changes to their visitation plans and we anticipate, based on the incredible level of support we’ve been receiving, that it’s likely to be the case moving forward," says president and chief executive officer George Aguel.

But that’s not the case for Pegasus and other Brazilian tour companies. Bookings have gone down, and vice president Claudie Menezes says it is not because of the events of recent weeks.

“It was sad but we saw more the economic problems in Brazil were more like an influence. Some groups were affected. There was a drop in the demand. There was not like as much shopping as it was before.”

Brazil is grappling with its weakening currency and the kinks in its political fabric. Pegasus usually welcomes 15,000-20,000 Brazilians a year.

“This year we’re probably going to see about 30 to 40 percent less,” Menezes predicts.

She calls the change an inevitable part of a cycle that has waned and peaked over the past few years. Despite the shift, she says the draws to Orlando are still there.

“People are coming to see NBA, the Orlando Magic. They’re coming also to see Orlando City Soccer as we have two Brazilians playing—Kaka and Julio Baptista—and sometimes they just come and rent homes and enjoy a bit of the American way of life.”

Then, there’s the weather. The relative closeness to Brazil. The theme parks. And shopping.

Menezes and others in the tourism industry hope those offerings and Orlando’s reputation as home to the 'Happiest place on earth' will keep Brazilians coming back.