Article content

BRASILIA — Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro called Swedish climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg a “brat” on Tuesday after she criticized mounting violence against indigenous people in which two Amazon tribesmen were shot dead three days ago.

“Greta said the Indians died because they were defending the Amazon (forest). How can the media give space to a brat like that,” Bolsonaro told reporters, using the Portuguese word “pirralha.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Brazilian president Bolsonaro calls activist Greta Thunberg a 'brat' Back to video

The teen activist retorted by changing the biographical description on her Twitter account to “Pirralha.”

Thunberg turned a spotlight on the struggles of the world’s indigenous peoples to protect the environment on Monday at the United Nations climate change summit in Madrid.

Two indigenous men of the Guajajara tribe in eastern Amazon were shot dead on Saturday in a drive-by shooting not far from where a prominent tribesman who defended the Amazon rainforest was also killed last month.