(Verona) Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, absent from COP26 in Glasgow, met Italian far-right leader Matteo Salvini on Tuesday during his visit to Pistoia, Tuscany, of a memorial dedicated to Brazilians killed in WWII global.
Shunned by the bishop and the mayor
Unusually, the Bishop of Pistoia did not want to celebrate the mass planned at this memorial for the day of the dead, while the diocese recalled in a scathing statement that “the theaters for possible institutional, political or personal meetings must be found in other places and at other times which have nothing to do with this moment of solemn contemplation ”.
Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, who is part of the coalition supporting the government of Mario Draghi, denounced “incomprehensible controversies” for a day of the dead. “Honoring the dead should be outside of any political controversy,” he said.
Neither the mayor of Pistoia nor the president of the Tuscany region came to welcome the Brazilian president either.
Bolsonaro becomes honorary citizen
Mr Bolsonaro was in Rome this weekend for the G20 summit, but instead of flying with his counterparts to Glasgow for the UN climate negotiations, he traveled to Veneto in the north on Monday. of Italy, to receive honorary citizenship of the small town of Anguillara Veneta, where her ancestors came from.
Mr. Bolsonaro, isolated on the international scene, is widely criticized for his environmental record: since coming to power in 2019, deforestation and fires in the Amazon have exploded, while his government demands to be paid to protect the Amazon rainforest , 60% of which is in Brazil and whose maintenance is crucial to curb global warming.
The decision of Anguillara Veneta, led by the League, and the arrival of Mr. Bolsonaro, accused by a commission of inquiry of the Brazilian Senate of having “deliberately exposed” his compatriots to “mass contamination” by his denial of the seriousness of the health crisis, sparked protests in this town.
Likewise in the nearby town of Padua, where the police used water cannons against anti-Bolsonaro protesters in front of the famous Basilica of Saint Anthony.
After his visit to Pistoia, Mr. Bolsonaro traveled to Pisa, from where he was to return to Brazil. He took the opportunity to make a brief visit to the famous Leaning Tower.