Jair Bolsonaro preferred to stay in Brazil amid the protests from Greenpeace and gay rights, BBC reported on Friday. Brazil’s President set to attend a ceremony in his honour in New York later in May organised by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce but the socio-economic situation inside the country demand Bolsonaro’s special attention.
Brazil’s president trip to New York has cancelled a planned trip to Big Apple, where several venues have also decided not to host the event. Jair Bolsonaro’s spokesman General Otavio Rego Barros blamed NY Mayor Bill de Blasio and the “pressure of interest groups”. According to environmental activists, Bolsonaro’s relaxing environmental policies are very controversial, moreover, he is “a threat to Brazil’s ecosystem”. Thus, instead of receiving a person of the year award, Brazil’s leader has just cancelled his trip to New York.
The Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce (BACC) was waiting for Mr Bolsonaro as well as the American Museum of Natural History, both organizations had originally agreed to hold a gala dinner for the Brazilian president. Meanwhile, other sponsors, including Delta Airlines, the Financial Times newspaper and management consultancy Bain & Co, have pulled out of the event.
“We have decided to withdraw our sponsorship of the … 2019 Person of the Year Awards Gala Dinner,” Bain said. “Encouraging and celebrating diversity is a core Bain principle.”
At the annual event, the BACC gives out its person of the year awards. This year one of those prizes is due to go to Mr Bolsonaro, who was sworn in as Brazil’s president on 1 January.
In his turn, NY Mayor Bill de Blasio said Jair Bolsonaro was a “very dangerous human being”. In his April’s interview to radio station WNYC, Mayor said: “He’s dangerous not just because of his overt racism and homophobia, but because he is, unfortunately, the person with the most ability to be able to impact what happens in the Amazon going forward.”
