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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Falsely Blames Leonardo DiCaprio for Amazon Fires

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He claims, with no evidence, that the actor is paying nonprofits to torch the rainforest.

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro lobbed a series of outlandish claims about the Amazon fires, claiming that actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio was funding arson in the rainforest. “This Leonardo DiCaprio’s a cool guy, isn’t he? Giving money for the Amazon to be torched,” Bolsonaro told supporters on Friday, according to The Guardian. DiCaprio has pledged $5 million to protect the rainforest, and Bolsonaro claimed, without proof, that nonprofit groups are setting the fires to get money. Four volunteer firefighters were recently arrested and charged with setting fires, but they denied it, and a federal judge ordered them released.

Read it at The Guardian

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