Without offering proof, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday said actor Leonardo DiCaprio had funded non-profit groups that he claimed were partly responsible for fires in the Amazon this year
"DiCaprio is a cool guy, isn't he? Giving money to set the Amazon on fire," the President said to supporters in Brasilia.DiCaprio's environmental organisation Earth Alliance has pledged $US5 million to help protect the Amazon after a surge in fires destroyed large parts of the rainforest in July and August. But the actor and committed environmentalist said in a statement his group had not funded any of the two non-profits named by investigators so far.
Some members of Bolsonaro's administration argue that civil society groups and environmental laws hinder economic development in the region.Bolsonaro and Environment Minister Ricardo Salles are promoting development in some protected natural areas, even as intentional fires and deforestation in the Amazon have reached levels not seen in a decade.
The criticism of DiCaprio and environmental activists follows a police raid at the headquarters of two non-profit groups in the Amazonian state of Para earlier this week. Local police also arrested four volunteer firefighters and said they were investigating them for allegedly igniting fires to obtain funding from sympathetic donors.
WWF-Brasil issued a statement declaring it had made donations to the non-profit in question, but had not acquired images and had not received donations from DiCaprio.The crackdown coincides with an uptick of fake news posts on social media in Brazil, claiming various conspiracies theories, from non-profits being behind the fires to media outlets being complicit.
Federal prosecutors say their investigations point to land-grabbers as primary suspects for fires in the area, not non-profits or firefighters.
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