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In northern Brazil, firefighters continue to fight fires in the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree on Thursday banning agricultural burning for sixty days in an attempt to curb the spread of fires. Among the most affected states is that of Rondônia, on the Bolivian border. Reportage.
with our special correspondent in Porto Velho, Oriane Verdier
In this state of Rondônia, the intensity of the fires has decreased but smoke still covers the sky of Porto Velho. Firefighters still fight the blazes that persist and try to prevent new homes from being lit.
In the streets of the capital of Rondônia, we feel the social and political tension currently prevailing in Brazil. Firefighters and researchers at the Public Environmental Institute are prohibited from officially addressing journalists. Members of environmental organizations and indigenous peoples denounce the threats they face from supporters of the Bolsonaro government.
In the urgencies of Porto Velho
In the emergency room of the Porto Velho hospital, many children and elderly people are received for respiratory problems. In the hallway of the hospital, a row of seats overhung with oxygen masks. Vitorio comes to sit there, plaid shirt and cowboy hat on his head. Breathing problems caused the tanned old man to leave his fields. " It's been over a week that I have a flu, " he tells us. I can not even work anymore, there is too much smoke. I have a hoarse voice now, she was not before. "
The conversation will be short-lived, a nurse covers Vitorio's face with an oxygen mask.
Every summer, Roberto sees this type of patient parade. " This year especially we have received more cases of respiratory problems, more serious cases. Very young patients that we had to intubate with a risk of immediate death. It's something we had not seen in previous years. The air is drier and there is more smoke since there are more fires. Yet one might think that the closer you are to nature, the better the quality of your air. But here in the Amazon, people have breathing problems, but it should be the opposite. "
The nurse gives us the feeling of abandonment of a large part of the population. According to him the situation is recovered by the politicians but he fears that no measure of sustainable prevention is taken to put an end to this drama of deforestation that has lasted for years. He also wants the people of Porto Velho to stop being the direct victims of deforestation.
► Also to read : Are fires in the Amazon questioning the activity of agribusiness?