Fund Backed by Leonardo DiCaprio Pledges $5M to Amazon Amid Fires

Courtesy of MGN

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says Brazil will only accept an offer of international aid to fight Amazon fires if French leader Emmanuel Macron retracts comments that he finds offensive.

Bolsonaro on Tuesday said Macron had called him a liar and he accused the French president of questioning Brazil's sovereignty amid tensions over fires sweeping the Amazon region.

Bolsonaro says Macron has to retract some of his comments "and then we can speak."

Macron has questioned Bolsonaro's trustworthiness and commitment to protecting biodiversity.

Macron put the Amazon fires high on the agenda of the G-7 summit in France, where world powers pledged this week some $40 million to fight the fires and plant new trees because of the Amazon's importance to the global climate.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro accused France and other rich countries of treating the region like a "colony."

Macron said in a speech Tuesday that Bolsonaro's interpretation is a "mistake.

He said the money isn't just aimed at Brazil but at nine countries in the Amazon region, including Colombia and Bolivia. France too considers itself an Amazon country via its overseas region of French Guiana.

Macron and Bolsonaro have been feuding over social media in recent days.

(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)