President Jair Bolsonaro criticized young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who has gained worldwide prominence in the fight against the effects of climate change.
At the entrance to the Alvorada Palace, where he stopped to greet a group of voters, he called the young activist a "brat" when asked about the murder of two Guajajara Indians on Saturday (7) in Maranhão.
Following Bolsonaro's criticism, Greta inserted the word "brat" on her official social media profile description. In August, she also changed her account in response to US President Donald Trump.
At the time, he mocked the young woman and stated that she appeared to be a very happy girl, referring to her serious countenance. After the declaration, the qualification "very happy" was included by the Swedish in her description.
The girl said indigenous people had been killed in Brazil for protecting the Amazon rainforest. Since 2013, Guajajaras have been active in cracking down on environmental crimes in a group called Forest Guardians.
"What's the name of that girl over there? From outside there? Greta. Greta has already said that the Indians died because they were defending the Amazon. It's impressive for the press to make room for a brat [pirralha] like that. Brat," Bolsonaro said.
The president said, "any death" is worrisome in the country and that the federal government wants to enforce the law and reduce illegal deforestation in the country. Between August 2018 and July 2019, Brazil broke the Amazon deforestation record of this decade.
"Worry, any death worries. We want to comply with the law; we are against illegal deforestation; we are against illegal burning. Everything that is against the law we are against," he said.
Later, in a conversation with the press, the spokesman for the Presidency of the Republic, General Otávio Rêgo Barros, came out in defense of Bolsonaro.
The military said the president was not impolite with Greta. According to him, "brat" is a term that refers to "a person of small stature".
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon