The fire crisis in the Amazon corner of Bolsonaro and unleashes the demonstrations

The president has again been the victim of a campaign of ecologists who today called to march in front of the embbadies of Brazil. pressure from world leaders

BRAZIL.- Controversy over drama
fires in the basin of
Amazon he kept red hot yesterday in
Brazilwhere the president
Jair Bolsonaro he said that
"there will always be fires" and that it is not a "Nero", but the victim of a campaign of environmental groups against the country and its leadership.

The allusion to the Roman emperor, famous for the devastating fire of the Eternal City in the first century, took place after
nearly three weeks of intense fires and hardly appeased the growing indignation of environmentalists, who called for the holding of demonstrations today in front of all embbadies of Brazil.

"I do not defend fires because there have always been and there will be fires, unfortunately this is happening in the Amazon," Bolsonaro told reporters leaving his official residence in Brasilia. "But to accuse me of being a Nero captain setting on fire, it's irresponsible, he's campaigning against Brazil," he added.

Bolsonaro, which denies climate change and encourages the opening of indigenous reserves and protected areas to agricultural and mining activities,
He also accused again against "environmental psychosis, which leaves nothing".

"I do not want to end the environment I want to save Brazil […] Imagine if the world starts to impose trade barriers: our food industry will fall, we will withdraw, the economy will get worse, "he warned.

So far this year, 75,336 outbreaks have been recorded in the Amazon, 84% more than during the same period in 2018. These outbreaks have intensified in the context of rapid progress in deforestation in the Amazon region.

While Bolsonaro insisted on the development of agro-livestock farming, the federal prosecutor's office announced an investigation to determine if the fires could be due to a type of abuse, especially if it was not properly monitored, if the support provided to environmental agencies was insufficient or if there was coordinated action by farmers and farmers. But NGOs and other activists and world leaders do not believe so much in these "abuses", but question the very foundation of agricultural development policy at the expense of the jungle.

Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) lamented that the policies, actions and statements of the far-right president fuel impunity in forest-devastating fires. Greenpeace Forest campaign leader Miguel Ángel Soto said Bolsonaro's priorities and messages "suggest" that Brazil's development is about deforestation in the Amazon.

The Fridays for Future (FFF) organization, which is actively fighting climate change, has called on young people to demonstrate today in front of Brazilian embbadies, even those in Buenos Aires. "Our house is literally on fire and the lungs of our planet are being reduced to ashes," warned the youth.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the "protection" of the Amazon, whose fires can jeopardize the fight against global warming. "I am deeply concerned that in the midst of the global climate crisis, we can not afford to cause more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity." The Amazon needs to be protected, "he said. he warned.

The crisis will also be on the agenda of the leaders who will meet this weekend at the G7 summit in Biarritz, at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron. "Our house is on fire, literally, the lung of our planet, which produces 20% oxygen, is burning, it's an international crisis, the G-7 members, see you soon, to talk about this urgency, "he tweeted.

Agencies, AFP, AP and ANSA

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