BRASILIA, Sept 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will not attend a summit with regional leaders to discuss the Amazon fires that is scheduled for Friday in Colombia because of doctors’ orders.
Brazilian Government spokesman Otavio Rego Barros said Bolsonaro could not go because of upcoming surgery to treat a hernia.
Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen during the presidential campaign.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres last week suggested holding the meeting to address the fires that have engulfed part of Brazil’s rainforest.
Bolsonaro said he was eager to speak about the fires — that have drawn world attention — at the next UN general assembly in September, as the issue appeared to erode his support at home.
He told reporters in Brasilia he wanted to speak “with patriotism” about the Amazon, a region he said was ignored by previous administrations.
The president has been widely criticized over his support for Amazon deforestation and a delayed reaction to wildfires that have hit the
rain forest.
Satellite image shows smoke over Brazil from the fires
Bolsonaro has to go on a liquid diet starting Friday, the same day as the
summit in Colombia, and this makes the trip unfeasible, said Barros.
Brazil is considering sending a substitute or even asking that the meeting
be postponed, said the spokesman.
Bolsonaro is due to undergo surgery Sunday to correct an incisional
hernia, his fourth operation since he was stabbed nearly a year ago during
the presidential campaign.
Doctors said Bolsonaro would need 10 days’ rest following the operation,
which would be performed in Sao Paulo.
The president vowed to defend his controversial Amazon policy at this month’s UN General Assembly even if he had to do so “in a wheelchair.”
“I will appear before the UN even in a wheelchair, on a stretcher. I will
appear because I want to talk about the Amazon,” Bolsonaro told reporters
outside his official residence in Brasilia.
Brazil traditionally makes the first speech at the General Assembly
meeting, set for Sept 24.
Responding to criticism of his policy, Bolsonaro has accused France and
Germany of attempting to buy Brazil’s sovereignty after the G7 group of rich democracies offered $20 million in Amazon fire aid. — NNN-AGENCIES
