RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “Forgive me, forgive me a thousand times,” Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho apologized on Tuesday, August 27th, after the insults and undiplomatic remarks against France and the Macron couple by Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro on the occasion of the crisis surrounding the fires in the Amazon.
Au peuple français pic.twitter.com/MWGG1koMbx
— Paulo Coelho (@paulocoelho) August 26, 2019
“This is a sad video, to have to apologize to my French friends for the crisis and Bolsonaro’s hysteria over France, the French President, and his wife,” Paulo Coelho said in a video in French posted on his Twitter account.
He added that Brazil is experiencing a “gloomy moment” in its history but that this moment is going to pass “just like the night passes”.
Many Brazilians have apologized on Twitter to the French First Lady for their president’s unfortunate behavior.
The author, born in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, is one of the most widely read novelists in the world. His book “The Alchemist” has sold several million copies.