Brazil rejected humanitarian aid from Argentina due to the tragedy in Bahia

Brazil rejected humanitarian aid from Argentina due to the tragedy in Bahia

In an official letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the federal government of Brazil rejected the aid offered by Argentina to the victims of the floods, which had been accepted by the governor of Bahia.

The Brazilian government maintained in the office that it has sufficient human and financial resources, with a reserve of 200 million reais, about 35 million dollars, to face the tragedy.

“In the event that the situation worsens, requiring additional assistance needs, the Brazilian Government can accept the Argentine offer of support from the White Helmets Commission, whose work is widely recognized,” says the text of the letter from the Itamaraty Palace. , revealed by the Globo chain and other Brazilian media.

The decision is part of a climate of political struggle amid the floods in Bahia, which has received a chain of solidarity from all over the country, since Governor Costa is from the Workers’ Party (PT) of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da SIlva, an opponent of the federal government.

President Bolsonaro decided to go on vacation to Sao Francisco do Sul, state of Santa Catarina, where he rides a jet ski and walks along the beaches greeting supporters, while he has sent the Minister of Regional Development, Rogerio Marinho, and minimized the absence of the President on the ground since he was in the area last November, with the first rains.

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry rejected the offer of Argentine aid a few hours after Governor Costa thanked the Argentine Government for the disposition on social media.

“My thanks to the Argentine government for the offer of humanitarian aid to the victims of the floods in Bahia, especially to Ambassador Daniel Scioli, the Consul General in Bahia, Pablo Virasoro, and the president of the National White Helmets Commission, Ambassador Sabina Frederic, “wrote Costa, the PT’s most voted governor in the 2018 elections.

Costa explained that Argentina offered immediate shipment of water purification tablets, a mission with ten professionals specialized in the areas of water and basic sanitation, logistics and psychosocial support to the victims.

The governor had asked the Bolsonaro government for “speed” to authorize the foreign mission on Twitter.

The dispute in the midst of the humanitarian crisis in Bahia, with more than 600,000 affected and two dams that gave way due to the force of the waters in rural regions of the south of the state, is marking the policy in this week of the end of the year because it will begin the countdown to next October’s elections.

Governor Costa rejected for “little” the help offered by Bolsonaro to recover the routes and bridges that have been broken by the advance of the waters.

To refute criticism that he was spending a vacation on the beach for the second week in a row, Bolsonaro posted a video on his networks showing central government officials delivering food to regions of Bahia. “We are still in Bahia,” the president wrote from the beach located north of Florianópolis.

Lula’s visit to Buenos Aires as the favorite candidate to beat Bolsonaro, according to government sources cited by the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, caused irritation within the Executive Branch of Brazil, Argentina’s main trading partner.

Bahia received the worst rains in 32 years, taking into account that this type of climatic phenomenon does not occur in the northeast region of Brazil, but rather is concentrated in the southeast.

The neighboring state of Minas Gerais is also suffering from the floods in its northern region, bordering Bahia, which have already caused six deaths there since November, according to local press.

Source From: Ambito

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