As Amazon burns, Brazil's Bolsonaro tells rest of world not to interfere
Source: Reuters
WORLD NEWS AUGUST 22, 2019 / 7:51 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
As Amazon burns, Brazil's Bolsonaro tells rest of world not to interfere
Anthony Boadle, Stephen Eisenhammer
5 MIN READ
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Amid growing international criticism over the wildfires raging through the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday admitted farmers could be illegally setting the rainforest ablaze but told foreign powers not to interfere.
French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres both took to Twitter to express concern about the fires that have reached a record number this year, devastating vast swathes of forest considered a vital bulwark against climate change.
Bolsonaro responded angrily to what he regarded as meddling.
“These countries that send money here, they don’t send it out of charity. ... They send it with the aim of interfering with our sovereignty,” he said in a Facebook Live broadcast.
But earlier on Thursday, he said that Brazil alone lacked the resources to control the fires.
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics/as-amazon-burns-brazils-bolsonaro-tells-rest-of-world-not-to-interfere-idUSKCN1VC1AT