This archive report was first published on 27 August 2019.
Published on August 27, 2019, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's administration has sparked international controversy after rejecting a $20 million aid package from G7 countries to fight the Amazon wildfires.
The offer, made at the G7 summit in France, was met with a sharp rebuke from Onyx Lorenzoni, chief of staff to President Bolsonaro, who told the G1 news website that the resources would be more relevant to reforesting Europe.
"We appreciate (the offer), but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe," Lorenzoni said.
The Brazilian government's decision to reject the aid package comes after a meeting between Bolsonaro and his ministers, who had initially welcomed the funding to fight the fires that have swept across 950,000 hectares of the Amazon rainforest.
Tensions have risen between France and Brazil after French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that the fires burning in the Amazon basin amounted to an international crisis and should be discussed as a top priority at the G7 summit.
Bolsonaro reacted by blasting Macron for having a "colonialist mentality," with Lorenzoni echoing the sentiment in a statement to the G1 news website.
"Macron cannot even avoid a foreseeable fire in a church that is a world heritage site. What does he intend to teach our country?" Lorenzoni said, referring to the fire in April that devastated the Notre-Dame cathedral.
