“The World’s Lungs are the Oceans, not the Amazon,” says Brazilian Vice-President

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian vice-president Hamilton Mourão spoke on Thursday night about the wildfires in the Amazon and said that the region is safe. On Twitter, he credited the fires to the drought period.

“The Brazilian Amazon is safe! I lived there, and I know that fires are episodic during the dry season,” he wrote. In the tweet, Mourão criticized what he described as an attempt to turn the problem into an international crisis.

“Turning this into a crisis, ignoring the tragedies that fires have caused in the U.S. and Europe, is bad faith from those who do not know that the lungs of the world are the oceans, not the Amazon,” he added.

Earlier, also on Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron positioned himself on the fires in the Amazon, classifying the problem as an “international crisis” and urging the G7 leaders to address the issue urgently.

In response, President Jair Bolsonaro rebutted the French leader, also on social media, saying that Macron is seeking to “exploit an internal issue” of the Amazon countries “for personal political gain.”

The next G7 meeting, gathering the presidents of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan, will take place this weekend in Biarritz.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, also said on Thursday that he is “deeply concerned” about the fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Countries are “using the wildfires in an attempt to hurt Brazil,” says Bolsonaro

The Amazon forest fires may be used to hinder Brazil’s agribusiness sector, president Jair Bolsonaro said yesterday, August 22nd, during a weekly live broadcast on Facebook.

He stressed that the government is working to mitigate the problem and asked people to help report criminal activity in the area.

“Some countries are taking advantage of this time to enhance criticism against Brazil to harm agribusiness, our economy, put Brazil back in a subordinate position,” he said.

The president criticized foreign demonstrations on the subject. “A certain country, not naming it here, has mentioned “our Amazon” — it had the nerve to say “our Amazon” — it is interested in having a position for itself one day, here in our Amazon,” he said.

During the live broadcast, the Brazilian president acknowledged that there have been criminal fires and that, according to him, this could represent an attempt to undermine Brazilian sovereignty over the Amazon.

He compared the fires in Brazil to others that occur annually in regions like California in the United States.

“Is there a criminal propensity here? There is. I know there is. Who is doing this? I don’t know — the farmers themselves, NGOs, Indians, whatever. So, there is interest in saying more and more that we are not responsible and who knows if sooner or later, someone will enact an intervention in the Amazon region and we will be sucking our thumb here in Brazil,” he said.

Bolsonaro further criticized some of the press for covering the issue. He stressed that the problems resulting from the fires could have a damaging effect on everyone in the country. “Our economy is based on commodities. If the world decides to retaliate and our economy becomes a mess, everyone, including you, the reporters, will suffer the consequences.”

Finally, the president called on farmers in the region who are setting fire to forest areas. “It is suspected that rural producers are now taking advantage of the situation and starting fires there. Everyone will suffer the consequences.”

“If you want to expand your production areas, that’s fine, but this is not how we’re going to achieve our goal.”