Brazil launches military operations in the Amazon rainforest

Vice President Hamilton Mourao said Brazil launched a military deployment to protect the Amazon rainforest on Monday, beginning with an operation to combat environmental destruction in the state of Rondonia near the Bolivian border.

President Jair Bolsonaro issued a decree last week allowing the military to be deployed, repeating a move he made last year to send in the armed forces after forest fires and deforestation surged. This year troops are being sent in three months earlier than in 2019.