Jair Bolsonaro says «deceitful» media hyping Amazon wildfires.

Pedro_P

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

In a combative UN address Bolsonaro denied – contrary to the evidence – that the world’s largest rainforest was being devastated.

Jair Bolsonaro at the United Nations general assembly in New York City on Tuesday. Photograph: William Volcov/REX/Shutterstock
▼ Brazil’s far-right president, Jair  Bolsonaro, has launched a cantankerous and conspiratorial defense of his environmental record, blaming Emmanuel Macron and the “deceitful” media for hyping this year’s fires in the Amazon.
In a combative 30-minute address to the UN general assembly, Bolsonaro denied – contrary to the evidence– that the world’s largest rainforest was “being devastated or consumed by fire, as the media deceitfully says”.
“Our Amazon is larger than the whole of western Europe and remains virtually untouched – proof that we are one of the countries that most protects the environment,” Bolsonaro claimed.
About 17% of the Amazon has been destroyed over the last 50 years with some scientists fearing the rainforest could reach an irreversible tipping  pointif that rises to 20% or 25%.
Brazil’s international reputation has been put through the wringer since the notoriously outspoken populisttook office in January, with Bolsonaro locking horns with a succession of world leaders, including the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
With Brazilbattling to repair its overseas image after the Amazon fires crisis, some observers had expected Bolsonaro to strike a softer note at the UN summit.
Instead, Brazil’s president went on the offensive, starting his speech with a Trumpian excoriation of socialism and concluding with an obscure broadside against the leftist “ideological thought systems” he alleged had invaded Brazilian schools, universities, homes and even souls.
“With these methods, this ideology has always left a trail of death, ignorance and misery, wherever it has gone,” Bolsonaro said.
At the heart of Bolsonaro’s speech – which Brazilian fact-checkers saidcontained nine falsehoods and five imprecise claims - was a lengthy counter-attack against domestic and international criticism of his highly controversial vision for the Amazon and Brazil’s indigenous communities.
“Any country has problems. But the sensationalist attacks we suffered from the large part of the international media over the fires in the Amazon awakened our patriotic feelings,” he said, accusing foreign critics of questioning Brazil’s sovereignty over the region in a disrespectful and “colonialist” manner.
That line was a clear jab at Macron with whom Bolsonaro is locked in a (▪ ▪ ▪)

► Please, continue reading this news here: Source