The president admitted, however, fires have been criminal
Published in 23/08/2019 - 11:55 By Pedro Rafael Vilela Brasília
The wildfires in Brazil’s Amazon region might be used to harm the country’s agribusiness sector, said President Jair Bolsonaro today (Aug 22) during his weekly Facebook broadcast. He noted the government has worked to mitigate the problem and asked people to help report criminal activity in the area.
“Some countries seize opportunity to potentialize the criticism on Brazil and harm agribusiness, our economy, and place Brazil back in a subordinate position,” he stated.
The president criticized a foreign demonstrator who referred to the rain forest using the word “our.” “Now, a country—I won’t name it—was bold enough to refer to it as ‘our Amazon.’ It’s interested in owning a part of our Amazon one day,” he said.
Minutes after the transmission, Bolsonaro wrote a tweet mentioning a post by French President Emmanuel Macron about the wildfires in the Amazon, claiming the photo was not up-to-date. “I’m sorry to see that President Macro has sought to instrumentalize a domestic issue of Brazil and other countries sharing the Amazon forest for personal and political gains. The sensationalist tone with which he refers to the Amazon (also resorting to false photos) is not help at all in finding a solution to the problem. The Brazilian government is still open to dialog based on objective data and mutual respect. The French president’s suggestion—that Amazon-related matters should be discussed by the G7—without the participation of the countries in the region—brings back a colonialist mindset inappropriate in the 21st century,” the Brazilian president said.
More:
http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/politica/noticia/2019-08/bolsonaro-countries-use-amazon-blaze-try-harm-brazil
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