Jair Bolsonaro to UN: Brazil Wrongly Portrayed as an Environmental Villain

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And he led by example, often taking outings that drew thronging crowds, sometimes without wearing a mask. Through his actions and his rhetoric, he sabotaged efforts by mayors and governors to convince people to remain in quarantine.

In his speech to the UN, Jair Bolsonaro said the Supreme Court ruled states would determine quarantine measures.

He fired his first Health Minister for siding with local leaders on the need for broad restrictions to activity.

Brazil has confirmed 4.6 million coronavirus cases, the third-most in the world, according to the tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Its death toll of 137,000 trails only the US.

Finally, Bolsonaro made appeals to his conservative base, saying that Brazil is a Christian country and denouncing what he called "Christian-phobia″.

"The speech was, once again, aimed at his supporters at home rather than to the world,” Arko’s de Aragão said. “It seems that the opinion of the world matters less and less to him.” 

(Writers: David Biller, Mauricio Savarese)

Source: https://apnews.com/a6c347c672595611a9ce6004b59a1f79