Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasilia on July 29, 2020. -

Eraldo Peres / AP / SIPA

The Brazilian president attacks environmental activists.

Jair Bolsonaro said he was failing to "kill the cancer" he claimed by environmental NGOs, denouncing an international plot accusing him of being responsible for forest fires in the Amazon.

“You know that NGOs have no say in me.

I am firm with these people, but I cannot kill this cancer that most NGOs are, ”the head of state said Thursday evening, during his weekly live transmission on Facebook.

The far-right leader also blasted the campaigns orchestrated by "bastards" who accuse him of "setting the Amazon on fire."

He was referring, among other things, to a campaign on the Internet in English launched this week, entitled “Defundbolsonaro.org”, launched by several NGOs calling for any investment in Brazil to be made subject to firm commitments for the preservation of the Amazon.

This campaign has the slogan: “Bolsonaro sets the Amazon on fire.

Again.

Which side are you on?

".

"The favorite sport of some NGOs is to speak badly of the Amazon"

In June, international investment funds together weighing $ 4 trillion had already called for changes in the government's environmental policy.

On Friday, General Augusto Heleno, Minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet, admitted in an interview with the newspaper "Estado de S. Paulo" that it was possible to "improve" the actions of the government to preserve the Amazon, but has he also criticized the NGOs.

“The favorite sport of some NGOs is to speak badly about the Amazon.

Behind all of this, there are interests that go far beyond preservation, ”he said.

“When we say to choose between the Amazon and Bolsonaro, it makes no sense (…).

Looks like Bolsonaro is responsible for everything that happens in the Amazon, but a lot of the information in these campaigns is fabricated and malicious, ”he continued.

The Brazilian government deployed the military in May to fight fires in the Amazon and banned all agricultural burns for four months in July.

But the satellite of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) still identified a very high number of forest fires in the region in August, with 29,307 outbreaks, the second highest figure of the decade, only 5% less than in 2019, when the upsurge in fires sparked a major international crisis.

Further south, in the Pantanal, the planet's largest wetland and biodiversity sanctuary, the number of outbreaks has tripled compared to August 2019.

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  • Jair Bolsonaro

  • ecology

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  • Amazonia