The Brazilian government lacks the resources to fight a record number of wildfires burning in the Amazon rainforest, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday (August 22), weeks after telling donors he did not need their money.

Fires in the Amazon have surged 83% so far this year compared with the same period a year earlier, government figures show, destroying vast swathes of a forest considered a vital bulwark against climate change.

On Wednesday, Bolsonaro said, without supporting evidence, that non-governmental organisations were behind the fires.

Questioned again on Thursday about those comments, he said he could not prove that NGOs, for whom he has cut funding, were lighting the fires but that they were “the most likely suspects.”

The firebrand right-wing president has repeatedly said he believes Brazil should open the Amazon up to business interests, to allow mining and logging companies to exploit its natural resources.

Brazil is facing growing international criticism over its handling of the Amazon, 60% of which lies in the country.

Earlier this month, Norway and Germany suspended funding for projects to curb deforestation in Brazil after becoming alarmed by changes to the way projects were selected under Bolsonaro.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on his twitter account the fires in the Amazon forest are an international emergency and should be discussed by the G7 summit that will begin on Saturday (August 24) in Biarritz, France.

Although fires are a regular and natural occurrence during the regular dry season at this time of year, environmentalists blamed the sharp rise on farmers setting the forest alight to clear land for pasture.

Federal prosecutors in Brazil said they are investigating a spike in deforestation and wildfires raging in the Amazon state of Para to determine whether there has been reduced monitoring and enforcement of environmental protections there. (Reuters)

(Production: Pablo Garcia, Leonardo Benassatto, Paul Vieira)

The Brazilian inmate who disguised himself as his teenage daughter to escape prison was found dead in his cell.

READ: Brazilian gang leader attempts jailbreak dressed as daughter

Convicted Rio drug dealer Clauvino da Silva, 42, was serving a decades-long sentence when he was caught trying to break out of jail last Saturday (August 03), disguised as his daughter.

He was caught wearing an eerie plastic mask, a long black wig and women’s clothes, including a bra.

On Tuesday (Aug 6), however, Rio prison officials said Silva had been found dead in his cell in a high-security unit in the state’s Bangu prison complex.

“The inmate appears to have hanged himself with a bed sheet,” Rio’s prison authority said in a statement, adding that an investigation had been opened.

The death of Silva is an embarrassment for Rio’s prison authorities, which had initially cheered their actions in preventing his unusual escape plan. He is the latest prisoner to die in Brazil’s jails, which have become a major headache for new tough-on-crime President Jair Bolsonaro.

A gang leader attempted to break out of a Rio de Janeiro prison while dressed as his teenage daughter, Brazilian authorities said on Sunday (August 3).

Clauvino da Silva dressed in his visiting daughter’s clothing and donned a wig and silicon mask as he attempted to escape Gericino prison, but guards became suspicious by his nervous and erratic behavior.

His plan seemed to include leaving his 19-year-old daughter in jail. Police are investigating her role as a possible accomplice.

Rio’s State Secretary of Prison Administration released a video of da Silva removing the costume after he was caught, plus a number of photographs detailing the mask and clothing. He has since been transferred to a maximum-security prison and will likely face disciplinary measures.

According to authorities, da Silva is a leader within Red Command, one of Brazil’s most powerful drug trafficking organizations. (REUTERS)

(Production: Sergio Queiroz, Ben Dangerfield)