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A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 5 december 2019
Bolsonaro vs NGOs: Amazon town becomes ground zero for spat

By DAVID BILLER and DIANE side his table. The minister
JEANTET responded by taking a
Associated Press nearby microphone to ad-
ALTER DO CHAO, Brazil (AP) dress the crowd.
— A sleepy Amazon town “I just want to show the dif-
has become the flashpoint ference between the left
for the growing hostility be- and people who aren’t
tween Brazil’s far-right Pres- on the left,” he said. “I’m
ident Jair Bolsonaro and here with my family on my
environmental groups fol- vacation, one week of the
lowing the arrest of volun- year, three little kids, and
teer firefighters he has said you try to humiliate me in
set blazes in the rainforest. front of my kids. Is that it? Is
The episode prompted that what you are?”
leaders of nine non-gov- It quickly escalated into a
ernmental organizations shouting match, with video
on Tuesday to denounce of the episode going viral
the persecution of activ- nationwide.
ists, academics and scien- Two days later, a list with
tists since the election last names of NGOs, activists
year of Bolsonaro, who has and professors from the re-
accused many of them of gion allegedly responsible
working in the Amazon on for “the mistreatment of
behalf of foreigners— in- This Aug. 25, 2019 file photo shows charred consumed by a fire in an area in the Alvorada da the minister” started circu-
cluding actor Leonardo Amazonia region, in Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil. lating in local WhatsApp
DiCaprio. The groups have Associated Press chat groups, according to
been critical of Bolson- a local journalist who writes
aro’s push to develop the The controversy has cast to employee salaries rather tion report released last under the name Hellen Jo-
world’s largest tropical Alter do Chao, known as than valid projects. month showed a nearly plin, who also works with lo-
rainforest. “The Caribbean of the The volunteer firefighters 30% jump from the prior cal activists. She found her-
“The government regards Amazon,” into the national and nonprofits deny any year. While the govern- self on the list, described as
the third sector, Brazilian spotlight. wrongdoing and say the ment eventually acknowl- being anti-Bolsonaro and a
civil society, as the enemy Speaking at the edge of investigation is politically edged logging had in- “leftist of the worst kind.”
of the country,” Ricardo his verdant yard, Caetano motivated. Para state’s creased, the academic “It was a total witch hunt:
Borges, executive coordi- Scannavino, coordinator government said it won’t community remained get them and punish
nator at Pact for Democ- of Health and Happiness, comment on the probe shaken by the high-profile them,” Joplin said in an in-
racy, said on the video one of the two nonprofits until the police inquiry is dismissal at a scientific insti- terview.
call with reporters that investigated by local po- concluded. The press of- tution. That night, four police of-
also included the Brazil- lice, told the Associated fices of the president and “In the Bolsonaro govern- ficers drove to her home
ian branches of the World Press incendiary rhetoric the environment minister ment, there is a group that with red lights flashing as
Wildlife Fund and Amnesty has created a climate of didn’t reply to requests for has a clearly negative view she hosted a meeting of in-
International. terror, and security consul- comments. of science,” Galvão said in digenous activists. Terrified
Police last month accused tants have recommended Bolsonaro has accused a phone interview. “They attendees hopped Joplin’s
several volunteer firefight- he leave Alter do Chao as NGOs of feeding off the have this idea that all sci- back fence and hid in the
ers of setting forest fires to soon as possible. Already “industry of fines” in the entists are on the left.” jungle, while officers stand-
get funding through local he’s stopped sleeping at country’s environmental In November, a group of ing at Joplin’s doorway
NGOs in Alter do Chao, a home. sector and vowed to no international academics warned her about sup-
town of less than 10,000 “Today we’re in a war of longer allocate fine-relat- published a research pa- posed motorcycle theft in
people on the bank of the narratives. The country is ed revenue to nonprofits. per in the journal Global the area and peered into
Tapajos river in the state of polarized and unfortunate- Environment Minister Ricar- Change Biology, debunk- her home, she said at the
Para. Federal prosecutors ly we’ve created an envi- do Salles also announced ing the Brazilian govern- AP’s Rio de Janeiro office.
quickly said their investi- ronment of deconstruction earlier this year he was ment’s claims that Amazon She skipped town with her
gation found no such evi- instead of construction, temporarily suspending fires in August were normal. two toddlers and plans to
dence, the local police of- in which people shout at funding to NGOs, pending More than one of the pa- return only to move her
ficer leading the investiga- each other and don’t de- review of contracts and per’s authors remained things out permanently.
tion was removed from the bate,” Scannavino said. partnerships to catch pos- anonymous for fear of For now, the volunteer fire-
case and a judge ordered “It’s not justifiable to feed sible irregularities. reprisal like that Galvão fighters and nonprofits re-
the firefighters be released more hatred into an envi- Such targeting hasn’t been suffered, co-author Erika main under investigation in
from prison. ronment already polarized limited to non-profits. Berenguer told the AP. Alter do Chao. For Ana Tor-
Still, Bolsonaro, a former with hate.” In the midst of the inter- “It was really tough for rellas, who helps run a res-
army captain, publicly The same day, on the oth- national outcry over the them to make that deci- taurant in the town’s plaza,
backed the police allega- er side of Alter do Chao, Amazon fires in August, sion,” she said. the process looks like arbi-
tions against the firefight- a group of travelling soy Bolsonaro accused the In Alter do Chao, the arrest trary persecution.
ers and NGOs. Television farmers spoke to the AP then-head of Brazil’s space of the firefighters wasn’t “Boom, it was their turn,
footage of police making over breakfast at their ho- research institute, Ricardo the first controversy this as can happen with me,
arrests and raiding NGO tel and expressed the sort Galvão, of manipulating year to perturb the town’s as can happen with you,”
offices served, for some, as of skepticism about NGOs satellite data on deforesta- peaceful vibe. In July, Bra- said Torrellas, who moved
confirmation of the claims. that Bolsonaro shares. One tion in order to undermine zil’s education minister was to town from Venezuela
Bolsonaro even accused suggested NGOs outnum- his administration. eating in the central plaza two years ago. “I don’t
DiCaprio of providing the ber farmers in the surround- Galvão publicly countered with his family when indig- need glasses to see the
funds to the NGOs - some- ing region. Another said the claims and was fired. enous activists staged a plan. They don’t want peo-
thing the U.S. actor denied. most of their funding goes Brazil’s annual deforesta- short demonstration be- ple who think differently.”q