(FOX) - The Brazilian military is deploying troops to the Amazon to fight the massive wildfires that have swept the region and sparked an international outcry.
Brazil's defense minister has said that some 44,000 troops will be available for "unprecedented" operations to put out the fires, and forces are heading to six Brazilian states that asked for federal help. The states are Roraima, Rondonia, Tocantins, Para, Acre and Mato Grosso.
"The protection of the forest is our duty," Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro said in a televised address Friday. "We are aware of that and will act to combat deforestation and criminal activities that put people at risk in the Amazon. We are a government of zero tolerance for crime, and in the environmental field it will not be different."
The Amazon fires have become a global issue, escalating tensions between Brazil and European countries who believe Bolsonaro has neglected commitments to protect biodiversity. Protesters gathered outside Brazilian diplomatic missions in European and Latin American cities Friday, and demonstrators also marched in Brazil.
The dispute spilled into the economic arena when French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to block a European Union trade deal with Brazil and several other South American countries. He wants Group of Seven leaders meeting at a summit in France this weekend to discuss the Amazon crisis.
“First we need to help Brazil and other countries put out these fires,” Macron said Saturday
The goal is to “preserve this forest that we all need because it is a treasure of our biodiversity and our climate thanks to the oxygen that it emits and thanks to the carbon it absorbs,” he said.
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