Fresh Controversy Divides Leonardo DiCaprio and Bolsonaro Government

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is once again in contention with the Jair Bolsonaro government – and again because of the Amazon Forest.

Last year, he was criticized by Brazil’s President, who accused him of supporting NGOs that were setting fires in the Amazon. Now he has been challenged to walk through the region’s forest by Vice-President Hamilton Mourão.

The new controversy began on Friday, August 14th, after the American actor shared a report by British newspaper The Guardian on Instagram, about the rise in forest fires in the Amazon.

“The number of fires in the Brazilian Amazon in July increased 28 percent over the same month last year, according to data from the INPE (National Institute for Space Research),” he reported.

He added: “Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is under international pressure to contain the fires, but he has publicly questioned their seriousness in the past, claiming that opponents and indigenous communities were responsible.”

On Wednesday, August 19th, Mourão reacted and challenged the actor, “I would like to invite our most recent critic, Leonardo DiCaprio, to go with me to São Gabriel da Cachoeira to do an eight-hour ride through the jungle,” said the Vice-President at the Amazônia+21 World Forum.

“He will learn with each big pothole that he has to pass that the Amazon is not a flat land and understand better how things work in this vast region,” he continued.

DiCaprio has been to the Amazon before. The actor, known for his activism for the environment, visited an indigenous tribe in the Xingu Park, in Mato Grosso, in 2004, along with his girlfriend at the time, Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen.

In 2019, Bolsonaro accused DiCaprio of financing NGOs that set fire to the forest for international promotion and money.

“The NGO staff, what did they do? What is easier? Setting fire to the forest. Take a picture, film it, the NGO campaigns against Brazil, gets in touch with Leonardo DiCaprio, and Leonardo DiCaprio donates US$500,000 (R$2.5 million) to this NGO. Part of it was for the people who were setting the fires, okay? Leonardo DiCaprio is contributing to the fires in the Amazon,” he said.

The actor replied: “In this moment of crisis for the Amazon, I support the people of Brazil who are working to save their natural and cultural heritage.”

Source: Veja

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