Bolsonaro is expected to speak at the UN about the environment, hunger and the elections

Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil and candidate for re-election, will open the United Nations General Assembly this Tuesday in New York, where he is expected to speak on issues such as the environment and food insecurity, but also on issues related to presidential elections to be held on October 2.

Traditionally, the Brazilian president is in charge of opening the Assembly with his speech. This will be the fourth time Bolsonaro has done it.

The Brazilian president must address issues such as the conflict in Ukraine and post-pandemic challenges, according to said a Last week, Ambassador Paulino Franco de Carvalho Neto, Secretary for Multilateral Political Affairs of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The president is also expected to address the issue of the environment and the fight against climate change, as well as food security in the country, according to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Itamaraty.

According to a report According to the UN, almost a third of the Brazilian population is in a situation of severe or moderate food insecurity. During the Bolsonaro government, the country returned to the UN Hunger Map.

In an interview with the channel TV SBTBolsonaro said that he will reserve a part of his speech to deal with the environment. “I intend to talk about clean energy, like green hydrogen, especially in our northeast, a power.”

During the Bolsonaro government, deforestation grew by almost 57%, according to the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM). The Deforestation Alert System (SAD) has also registered a record in deforestation in 2022 that has exceeded the rates of the last 15 years.

Itamaraty also contemplates that the president speak about the elections that are held in less than two weeks, De Carvalho told .

Many fear that Bolsonaro will not accept the results of the elections in case the president is defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former president and opposition candidate, and that he appeals to populism, reported Reuters.

Lula leads Bolsonaro in the polls, reported Bloomberg.

The president defends that the Brazilian methods of calculating votes are not reliable, stating that the electronic voting system and the results can be manipulated. There is no evidence to confirm that claim, according to the report.

Previous participations of Bolsonaro in the Assembly

In 2019, Bolsonaro’s speech centered around the environmental crisis. The president defended that the Amazon remains “practically virgin,” rejecting the accusations of environmental damage during his administration.

In the following year’s Assembly, Bolsonaro further strengthened his position against accusations of environmental damage in the Amazon, arguing that there is a disinformation campaign about the Amazon and the Pantanal.

In addition, the president condemned the protection measures against the spread of COVID, defending that the social isolation guidelines “almost” led the country to “social chaos.”

In 2021, Bolsonaro focused his speech on topics related to the pandemic. The president highlighted the “Emergency Aid” program that granted 600 reais (about 114 dollars) to the most needy families during the health crisis.

In addition, Bolsonaro defended the treatment against COVID-19 with medications such as hydroxychloroquinewhich had already been proven ineffective against the disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), when Bolsonaro gave the speech.

In accordance with ​information of the newspaper Estadão, Bolsonaro made at least 11 false or misleading allegations in his speech last year.

Journalist and analyst Robson Bonin opined in the magazine See that the president is going to “speak directly with Brazilian voters to try to reduce their rejection, revealing the data collected by the government, such as the drop in unemployment rates.” According to Bonin, the president should also talk about the actions of his government in support of women in Brazil, a group that is strongly allied with candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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