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Since Jair Bolsonaro came to power, deforestation in the Amazon has reportedly increased by 67 percent, according to Brazil's official news agency INPE. AFP / Carl de Souza

Amazon deforestation is reported to have increased 67% in the first seven months of the year, according to the official INPE news agency. The same agency President Bolsonaro accuses of spreading false information, and he has just dismissed the director.

The far-right president has just sacked the director of the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the government agency charged with measuring deforestation in the Amazon, accused by the government of publishing " lies " figures and to " play the game of NGOs ".

But the same agency has just released data that show that the situation has worsened in July. Deforestation would have more than tripled compared to July 2018. 2,254 km² of areas were deforested in the country last month, against 596.6 km² in July 2018, an increase of 278% over one year. And over seven months, ie since the beginning of the Bolsonaro government, it would have increased by 67%.

According to Jair Bolsonaro, these alarming data do not correspond to reality, and are manipulated in order to undermine Brazil. " I am accused of being the captain chainsaw, " insists Jair Bolsonaro, who had canceled at the end of last month a meeting with Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, because it was interviewed by Brazilian NGOs deemed "subversive".

Jair Bolsonaro also asked to be consulted before the statistics of deforestation were made public. But he assures that it is not about censorship, reports our correspondent in Sao Paulo , Martin Bernard .