In his opening speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Jair Bolsonaro reiterated that he is the victim of a disinformation campaign and defended his government's policies against the coronavirus pandemic and the fires that are devastating the Amazon and the Pantanal.
In a recorded video that lasted less than 15 minutes, Bolsonaro said that, since the beginning of the crisis, he highlighted that both the virus and unemployment "needed to be treated equally" and accused the Brazilian press of spreading panic with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The president listed his government's measures, such as emergency aid, and allowed governors to determine isolation rules—the pandemic has already killed more than 136,000 people in the country—as a strategy to avoid the crisis's consequences.
"As happened in much of the world, a portion of the Brazilian press also politicized the virus, spreading panic among the population. Under the motto 'stay at home' and 'the economy we will see later', they almost brought social chaos to the country, " said Bolsonaro.
The president also said that the Amazon's riches arouse foreign and shady interests and that is why, in his view, the government is a victim of what he called a "brutal disinformation campaign" — he continued to minimize the fires and deny that he conducts a management negligent environmental impact.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon