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| Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro poses for pictures with women |
Brazilian women are probably ashamed of President Jair Bolsonaro, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, hitting back after the Brazilian leader mocked Macronโs wife on Facebook.
The leaders have been feuding in recent weeks, with Macron blaming Bolsonaro for fires in the Amazon and accusing him of lying about climate change policy.
Bolsonaro responded on Sunday to a Facebook post that compared the looks of his wife Michelle, 37, with Macronโs 66-year-old wife Brigitte.
โDo not humiliate the man hahahah,โ Bolsonaro wrote, in a comment widely criticised as sexist.
Asked about the incident at a news conference in Biarritz where G7 leaders are gathered for a summit, Macron said the comments were โextremely disrespectfulโ to his wife.
โItโs sad, itโs sad first of all for him and for Brazilians,โ Macron said. โBrazilian women are probably feeling ashamed of their president.โ
โSince I have a lot of esteem and respect for the people of Brazil, I hope they will very soon have a president who is up to the job,โ Macron added.
Later on Monday, Bolsonaro denounced Macronโs plan for an international alliance to protect the Amazon, saying on Twitter that it would treat Brazil like a colony.
Brazil was angered after Macron, in the run up to the G7 summit, tweeted a photo of the burning Amazon forest, writing: โOur house is burning. Literally.โ Macron said he had been lied to by Bolsonaro over his commitments to fighting climate change.
In July, Bolsonaro cancelled a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian โ getting a haircut instead.
Since taking office in January, Bolsonaro has railed against the enforcement of environmental regulations in Brazil and announced intentions to develop the Amazon region, where deforestation of the worldโs largest rainforest by loggers, ranchers and speculators has surged this year.
REUTERS
