Dramatic images and videos on social media show giant plumes of smoke rising from trees, and lines of fire leaving blackened waste. The smoke has reached all the way to the city Sao Paolo — more than 1,700 miles away. Images from the city show the sky pitch black in the middle of the afternoon, the sky and sun blanketed by smoke and ash.
The fires are burning at the highest rate since the country’s space research center — the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) — began tracking them in 2013, the center said Tuesday.
During his campaign in April, Bolsonaro had promised to roll back protections on Brazil’s rainforest and indigenous rights, stating the country’s natural resources should be exploited in a “reasonable way.”
