Bolsonaro evaluates sending military to control fires in Amazon

[Akrapovic]

International pressure on Brazil seems to be working. Bolsonaro is studying the possibility of sending soldiers to the area to control fires.

President Jair Bolsonaro assesses mobilizing the Army to fight fires in the Amazon, in response to international pressure and agribusiness concerns that could suffer the consequences of government inaction.
"The trend is that," Bolsonaro said in the morning. Palace sources said the decree should be formalized in the middle of the afternoon.
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, called on his G7 peers to discuss "emergency" the issue at the summit they held this weekend in Biarritz. The block of the main western economies said Friday that it works on a "concrete" response to fires in the Amazon.
"The fires that ravage the Amazon rainforest are not only heartbreaking, but also an international crisis. We are willing to provide all the help we can to control them and help protect one of the greatest wonders of the Earth," said the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson
France and Ireland indicated that if Brazil does not meet its environmental commitments, the free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur could be threatened, although a spokesman for the German government later tempered that momentum, stating that "the failure of the conclusion of the Mercosur agreement would not contribute to reducing deforestation in Brazil. "
Fires in Brazil increased 85% so far this year with respect to the same period of 2018. Satellite data from the Space Research Institute (INPE) say that until August 22 there were 76,720 fire points -1,384 more than the day before, with 52.6% in the Amazon region.
Brazil is in the dry season, when fires are frequent, although specialists agree that it is not a year of intense drought and that the strong increase in outbreaks is due to deforestation, which also according to data from INPE and other institutions It increased exponentially in recent months.
Celebrities such as Madonna, Ricky Martin, Novak Djokovic, Gisele Bundchen and Leonardo DiCaprio accentuated the pressure.
Non-governmental organizations called for demonstrations in front of Brazilian embassies and consulates, while other demonstrations are scheduled for Friday in some capitals of the country.
Also in Brazil, protests were called in several cities at the end of the afternoon.
Porto Velho, capital of the state of Rondonia (bordering Bolivia), woke up covered by a thin layer of reddish smoke, an AFP-TV journalist said. A situation that "is not normal" and that is explained by forest fires, said the hotel receptionist.
Thick columns of smoke rose above the dense forests of this western state, where the flames of several fires were visible for miles, an AFP photographer reported.
The governor of the neighboring state of Acre (border with Bolivia and Peru), equally affected by the claims, decreed the state of emergency.
The mayor of Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, Arthur Virgílio Neto, whipped Bolsonaro while participating in the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week that closes in Salvador (northeast) on Friday. The world will no longer tolerate irresponsible governance in the Amazon. Denying global warming is not serious, it is not intelligent, he said.
Commercial concern
Bolsonaro responded initially with a nationalist speech. On Thursday, he denounced a "colonialist mentality" of French President Emmanuel Macron for having proposed taking the issue to the G7.
Despite the rhetoric, Thursday night Bolsonaro finally yielded to international pressure and called an emergency meeting with his ministers, who, by decree, ordered to work in the fight against fires.
The concern of the Brazilian agribusiness, which is afraid to pay the consequences, also made itself felt.
"I just got the news and we are worried," said Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina on Friday, who asked to "lower the temperature" of the discussion.
"You can't say that because we have a fire or a fire in the Amazon, the Brazilian agribusiness is the great destroyer," he argued.
On Friday night, Bolsonaro must deliver a message to the nation in a national chain.
The Brazilian government severely underestimated the scale of global concern around the Amazon. They also miscalculated to what extent accelerating deforestation could threaten bilateral and multilateral relations, Robert Muggah, a researcher at the Igarapé Institute, an analysis center in Rio de Janeiro, told AFP.
Shortness of breath
Lieutenant Lucas de Souza Brito, who commands the Abafa operation against environmental crimes in central-western Mato Grosso, said they have felt the increase in fires this year. Local authorities reported an increase in respiratory diseases and noted that it is possible to perceive more dust as a result of fires.