The head of Brazil's environment agency has quit following the latest attack against the agency by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Suely Araujo resigned from IBAMA after Bolsonaro republished a tweet from his environmental minister criticizing the agency's decision to spend more than 28 million reais ($7.7 million, €6.7 million) on rental patrol trucks.

Araujo has dismissed what she said were 'baseless allegations' about irregularities

"We've had a system created mainly to financially violate Brazilians without the slightest care," Bolsonaro wrote in the tweet.

Read more: Jair Bolsonaro's stance on indigenous people is 'discriminatory and racist'

Araujo, who took over at IBAMA in June 2016, dismissed what she said were "baseless allegations" about irregularities in IBAMA's budget. She said the money covered the lease of 393 SUVs that were required for patrolling forests, fighting fires and conducting technical examinations across the entire country.

The Environment Ministry said it had wanted to replace Araujo before her resignation. A successor would be announced it the next few days, it added.

Amazon fears

Bolsonaro's election has raised fears about a higher rate of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. As a candidate, he regularly attacked IBAMA and threatened to restrict the agency's ability to fine companies that contravene environmental rules.

Powerful agricultural and mining businesses interested in reclaiming Amazon land back the far-right leader, who has hinted that he may also pull Brazil out of the 2015 Paris climate deal.

Scientists say retaining the Amazon, where deforestation hit a ten-year high in 2018, is crucial if the world is to keep global warming below the deal's two-degrees Celsius target by the end of the century.

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right president in quotes 'Straight to the dictatorship' Bolsonaro has criticized the very democracy that won him the presidency. In a 1999 TV interview, he said he would shut down Congress if he ever became president. "There is no doubt: I would perform a coup on the same day. And I'm sure that at least 90 percent of the population would celebrate and applaud because [Congress] doesn't work," Bolsonaro said. "Let's go straight to the dictatorship."

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right president in quotes 'Rape' Four years ago, Bolsonaro engaged in a heated debate with Brazilian lawmaker Maria do Rosario. During the debate, he said: "I wouldn't rape you because you don't deserve it." Shortly after, he defended himself, saying he wasn't a rapist. However, he added that if he were a rapist, he wouldn't touch do Rosario because she is "ugly."

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right president in quotes 'Moment of weakness' In a speech at Rio de Janeiro's Hebraica Club in April 2017, Bolsonaro spoke about his family. "I have five children. Four are men, and then in a moment of weakness the fifth came out a girl," he said.

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right president in quotes 'Prefer my son to die' LGBT activists have long railed against Bolsonaro for his homophobic stance. But in a 2011 Playboy magazine interview, Bolsonaro made things personal, saying he "would be incapable of loving a homosexual son … I would prefer my son to die in an accident than show up with a mustachioed man." In May 2002, he said that if he saw "two men kissing each other on the street" he would "beat them up."

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right president in quotes 'No means to control their offspring' Bolsonaro has often belittled impoverished communities. But in 2008, he took things a step further by suggesting poor people should be prevented from bearing children. Birth control "methods have to be provided for those who, unfortunately, are ignorant and have no means to control their offspring because we [as the upper middle class] are able to control ours."



amp/rt (AFP, Reuters)

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