Brazil’s president slams ‘John Biden’ for ‘coward’ debate threats over Amazon destruction

Brazil’s leader Jair Bolsonaro has fired back at Democratic candidate Joe Biden following his remarks about Amazon rainforests during the first presidential debate.

The fractious back and forth between President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden on Tuesday took an unexpected turn to the climate crisis after moderator Chris Wallace dropped in a question towards the end of the debate.

Both candidates laid out their opposing views on the global Paris Climate Accord, which Mr Trump has pledged to walk away from, while Mr Biden has vowed to rejoin.

"I will join the Paris Accord because with us out of it, look what’s happening. It’s all falling apart,” Mr Biden said, criticising the president as “someone who has no relationship with foreign policy” and using Brazil to illustrate his point.

“The rainforests of Brazil are being torn down,” Mr Biden said.

“I would be gathering up and making sure we had the countries of the world coming up with $20 billion, and say, ‘Here’s $20 billion. Stop tearing down the forest. And If you don’t, then you’re going to have significant economic consequences.’”

Mr Bolsonaro lashed out on Facebook having interpreted Mr Biden’s comment as a threat of economic sanctions on Brazil.

Referring to the vice president as “Mr John Biden”, he wrote that he doesn’t accept “bribes” or “coward threats”. He said that Brazil was tackling the rampant deforestation which is fueling wildfires and said foreign interest in the Amazon was “financially motivated”.

“The greed of some countries towards the Amazon is a well-known fact,” the Brazilian leader wrote.

“However, the explicit demonstration of this greed by someone who is running for the presidency of his country is a clear sign of contempt for cordial and fruitful coexistence between two sovereign nations.”

He ended the statement by calling Joe Biden by the wrong first name. “What a shame, Mr. John Biden! What a shame!” he wrote.

Mr Bolsonaro, dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics”, has sought to ally himself with the current administration. The president hosted the Brazilian leader and his entourage for a dinner at Mar-A-Lago in March after which one of the delegation tested positive for Covid-19. 

Amazon fires are at the highest level in a decade. A surge in fires in August 2019 to a nine-year high provoked outcry from global leaders and the public that Brazil was not doing enough to protect the world’s largest rainforest.

Environmental advocates and scientists say that Mr Bolsonaro is to blame for weakening environmental protections and calling for the development of the Amazon. 

He has been an enthusiastic ring-leader to miners, cattle ranchers and illegal loggers pushing into one of the planet's richest regions of biodiversity, and the home of thousands of indigenous peoples.

Mr Bolsonaro, a climate denier, insisted last month that there are no fires in the Amazon rainforest, calling evidence produced by his own government showing thousands of blazes a “lie”.

In July, the Brazilian government instituted a three-month "moratorium" on fires in the Amazon following the deployment of troops earlier in the year to prevent blazes being started. The moves appear to have ineffective.