Amazon town central in Bolsonaro versus NGOs spat
A SLEEPY Amazon town has become the flashpoint for the growing hostility between Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and environmental groups following the arrest of volunteer firefighters he said set blazes in the rainforest.
The episode prompted leaders of nine NGOs on Tuesday to denounce the persecution of activists, academics and scientists since the election last year of Bolsonaro, who has accused many of them of working in the Amazon on behalf of foreigners, including actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
The groups have been critical of Bolsonaro’s push to develop the world’s largest tropical rainforest.
“The government regards the third sector, Brazilian civil society, as the enemy of the country,” said Ricardo Borges, executive coordinator at Pact for Democracy.
Police last month accused several volunteer firefighters of setting forest fires to get funding through local NGOs in Alter do Chao, a town on the edge of the Tapajos river in the state of Para.
Federal prosecutors quickly said their investigation found no such evidence, the local police officer leading the investigation was removed from the case, and a judge ordered the firefighters be released from prison.
Still, Bolsonaro, a former army captain, publicly backed the police allegations against the firefighters and NGOs. Television footage of police making arrests and raiding NGO offices served, for some, as confirmation of the claims. Bolsonaro even accused DiCaprio of providing the funds to the NGOs, something the US actor denied.
Caetano Scannavino, co-ordinator of Health and Happiness, one of the two non-profits investigated by local police, said incendiary rhetoric has created a climate of terror.
“Today we’re in a war of narratives. The country is polarised and, unfortunately, we’ve created an environment of deconstruction instead of construction, in which people shout at each other and don’t debate.”
Para state’s government said it won’t comment on the ongoing investigation until the police inquiry is concluded. The press offices of the president and the environment minister didn’t reply to requests for comments.
Bolsonaro has accused NGOs of feeding off the “industry of fines” in the country’s environmental sector and vowed to no longer allocate fine-related revenue to non-profits.
In November, a group of international academics published a research paper in the journal Global Change Biology, debunking the Brazilian government’s claims that Amazon fires in August were normal. |