Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro as a candidate in 2018. Photo: Mauro Pimentel / AFP
Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro as a candidate in 2018. Photo: Mauro Pimentel / AFP

By Guy Davies
27 August 2019

LONDON (ABC News) – A senior government official said Brazil would reject the $22 million G-7 countries promised to help fight the wildfires raging in the Amazon.

Brazilian President Bolsonaro’s chief of staff Onyx Lorenzoni told Globo News, a Brazilian publication, that Brazil would reject the $22 million aid package, suggesting that the money instead be used to reforest Europe.

Lorenzoni also made a dig at France’s President Emmanuel Macron, suggesting he could not stop a “predictable” fire in a church, in reference to the fire that decimated Notre Dame Cathedral in April 2019.

A spokesperson of Brazil’s Presidential Palace confirmed to ABC News that an offer of aid from the G-7 nations had yet to be made official, but that if it did, the offer would be rejected.

This comes after Brazil’s Environment Minister Ricardo Salles indicated that Brazil would welcome aid from G-7 nations in an interview with reporters in São Paulo on Monday, according to Reuters. [more]

Brazil to reject G-7’s aid pledged to fight Amazon fires, digging at Macron over Notre Dame

Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro gestures during the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association's Unica Forum 2018 in São Paulo, 18 June 2018. Photo: Miguel Schincariol / Getty Images
Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro gestures during the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association’s Unica Forum 2018 in São Paulo, 18 June 2018. Photo: Miguel Schincariol / Getty Images

Brazil’s Bolsonaro says he might accept G-7 offer — if Macron apologizes

By Marina Lopes and Terrence McCoy
27 August 2019

SAO PAULO, Brazil (The Washington Post) – Brazil’s president on Tuesday walked back his country’s initial rejection of a $22.2 million package from the Group of Seven nations to help fight fires sweeping through the Amazon rainforest.

But President Jair Bolsonaro said any consideration of the aid remained tied up in his dispute with French President Emmanuel Macron — even as officials in the fire-stricken regions spoke of negotiating directly with other countries for help if needed.

Bolsanaro said he wouldn’t make a final decision until Macron apologized for remarks that Bolsonaro considered a challenge to his credibility and an attack on Brazil’s sovereignty.

“Before speaking or accepting anything from France, even if it comes from the best possible intentions, he must retract his words. Then we can talk,” he told journalists. […]

Bolsonaro’s administration appeared split on whether to accept the money. Brazil’s environmental minister said Monday he welcomed the aid.

“I think we need to aggregate as many tools as possible to resolve this,” Environmental Minister Ricardo Salles said on Brazilian television. Governors in the Amazon said they were willing to bypass Brazil’s federal government and negotiate directly with Europe if necessary.

“We cannot be without these resources,” Amazonas state governor Wilson Lima told the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo on Monday.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo urged European countries to channel aid through the United Nations Climate Convention instead of creating new initiatives.

“It is very clear, that some political channels, are trying to extrapolate real environmental concerns and use them in a fabricated ‘crisis’ as a pretext to introduce mechanisms for foreign control of the Amazon,” he tweeted. [more]

Brazil’s Bolsonaro says he might accept G-7 offer — if Macron apologizes