Porto Velho (Brazil) (AFP)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday condemned G7 aid against fires in the Amazon to "withdrawal of (his) insults" by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, while fires were still advancing in the rainforest despite the intervention of the army.
Far from lowering his tone, Bolsonaro took the side of the escalation in the aggressive controversy that swells day by day between Brazil and France, while fires in the Amazon have provoked international outrage, put his country in difficult and threaten an EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement negotiated over the last 20 years.
Bolsonaro, however, received "unqualified support" from US President Donald Trump. "He works very hard on the fires in the Amazon and, in all respects, does a very good job for the Brazilian people.Not easy," tweeted the White House tenant.
But in Brasilia, Jair Bolsonaro apostrophait Emmanuel Macron.
"Mr. Macron must remove the insults he has made against me," the Brazilian president told reporters, citing his counterpart's accusations that he had "lied" to his environmental commitments.
"At first he called me a liar and then, according to my information, he said that our sovereignty over the Amazon was an open question," said Jair Bolsonaro before meeting the nine governors of Amazon.
Mr. Bolsonaro, former captain of the army and assumed climateosceptic, often evokes "our Amazon" and accused Mr. Macron of having a "colonialist mentality".
On the last day of the summit in Biarritz (south-west of France), Emmanuel Macron had questioned the advisability of conferring an international status on the Amazon rainforest, in case the leaders of the region take decisions harmful to the planet.
"Before discussing and accepting anything from France" Mr. Macron "must withdraw his words and from there we will be able to speak," insisted the Brazilian president.
Asked about these statements, the French Presidency did not wish to comment.
Monday night, Brasilia had sharply rejected the aid of 20 million dollars proposed by the G7 to fight fires, advising the French president to take care of "his house and its colonies".
"We thank (the G7 for its offer of help, ed), but these means may be more relevant for the reforestation of Europe," said the chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni.
The latter had mocked Paris for not being able to prevent, in April, the "foreseeable fire" of the Notre-Dame cathedral, "world heritage".
- "Family question" -
On Monday Mr. Macron described as "extraordinarily disrespectful remarks about (his) wife" a comment by Jair Bolsonaro to an offensive Facebook post about the first lady, apparently unpublished in relations between leaders of State.
Questioned Tuesday on this case, Mr. Bolsonaro confirmed to have put himself the comment endorsing this post which showed Brigitte Macron on a very disadvantageous photo. But he did not want to address a "family issue" and threatened to end his meeting with journalists if they insisted.
The Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho apologized after the attacks of President Bolsonaro, as many Internet users in Brazil, who expressed their shame, under the keyword #DisculpaBrigitte (Pardon, Brigitte).
"Forgive me, forgive me a thousand times," wrote Paulo Coelho.
"Jair Bolsonaro has the mentality of a foolish pre-adolescent and totally immature," wrote a surfer, "he has no posture of a head of state.I feel a huge shame".
"We would like a First Lady like you: smart, smart and really doing something useful for her country," wrote another. "But we have the wife-trophy of an old idiot who does not know how to hold his tongue".
However, the extreme right-wing president enjoyed a strong support of the Bolsonarist sphere in his quarrels with Paris, very much mobilized on social networks.
- Respiratory difficulties -
On the ground, the new fire starts have further progressed Monday, giving a lie to the assertion the day before the Minister of Defense Fernando Azevedo e Silva that the fires in the Amazon were "under control" after the deployment of the army .
Some 1,659 new fire starts have been recorded in Brazil by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in 24 hours. A total of 82,285 forest fires have been recorded in Brazil since the beginning of the year, more than half of which occurred in the Amazon.
In Porto Velho, capital of the Amazonian state of Rondônia, a little rain has lightened the atmosphere very heavy in recent days smoke, which led many residents to consult for breathing difficulties.
Nearly 2,500 men and fifteen planes, including two C-130 Hercules water bombers were mobilized in the Amazon against these fires also seriously affecting Bolivia border President Evo Morales, who accepted international aid.
© 2019 AFP