Bolsonaro Denies Devastation of Amazon and Attacks Cuba, France, Venezuela

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro said today that the Amazon remains “practically untouched”; he also denied that the ecosystem is being destroyed and attacked nations that he claims threaten the sovereignty of Brazil.

He gave the opening speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he directly attacked the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela and indirectly responded to French President Emmanuel Macron.

this represents Brazil more than soccer and carnaval #BolsonaronaOnu pic.twitter.com/606BGQth05

— Luke (@fariassluke) September 24, 2019

Without nominal citation, Bolsonaro responded to Macron’s criticism of the fires in the Amazon. He said it was a mistake to say that the forest is the lung of the world, a phrase used by the French President last month.

According to Bolsonaro, the government is committed to preserving the environment. “The Amazon is not being destroyed,” said the Brazilian president.

For him, any aid or support initiative must be created with respect for Brazilian sovereignty, and he criticized what he called “sensationalist attacks” by the media. Without naming names, the speech was also a response to Macron, who last month talked about the option of internationalizing the forest management.

https://twitter.com/tomphillipsin/status/1176497659902746625

“Using these fallacies, one country or another of the world embarked on the lies of the media and behaved in a disrespectful manner and with a colonialist spirit,” said the Brazilian leader. Bolsonaro also pointed out that Brazil is one of the richest countries in biodiversity.

“My government is solemnly committed to preserving the environment and sustainable development. Our Amazon is bigger than the whole of Western Europe and remains practically untouched,” he said.

The president also criticized indigenous leader Raoni, saying that people like him are used as “pawns.”

Attacks on Cuba and Venezuela

In his speech, Bolsonaro said that Brazil is working to regain the world’s trust and reduce problems such as unemployment and violence. According to him, the country was “on the verge of socialism” and is being rebuilt in his government.

“My country [Brazil] was very close to socialism, which put us in a situation of widespread corruption, severe economic recession, high crime rates, uninterrupted attacks on the religious values that mark our tradition,” he said.

Several Brazilian observers I have spoken to feel a sense of weird relief after Bolsonaro's #UNGA speech. This was Brazil's president, hateful and unvarnished for the entire world to see. His words will weaken those who advocate for seeking to influence Brazil through dialogue.

— Oliver Stuenkel 🇧🇷 (@OliverStuenkel) September 24, 2019

Bolsonaro also talked about Cuba’s withdrawal from the ‘Mais Médicos’ (“More Doctors”) program, which he referred to as “true slave labor supported by human rights entities in
Brazil and the United Nations.”

The president recalled that most of the Cuban doctors left Brazil even before he took office and those who stayed in the country will apply to validate their diplomas in Brazil in order to practice their profession. “In this way, our country stopped contributing to the Cuban dictatorship, no longer sending 300 million dollars to Havana every year,” he said.

The president also talked about the situation in Venezuela, saying that today the country is experiencing “the cruelty of socialism” and that Brazil is feeling the impacts of this. “Of the more than 4 million who fled Venezuela, a portion is in Brazil. We are doing our part to help.”

Source: UOL