Amazon Gold and Army Suspicion Fuel Bolsonaro’s Rainforest Rage
- President’s views on region shaped by career in armed forces
- Bolsonaro’s father worked as a miner in Amazon goldmine
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Among the tens of thousands of Brazilians who descended on the Amazonian goldmine of Serra Pelada in the 1980s was Percy Geraldo Bolsonaro, father of the current president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro senior was among the wildcat miners who endured brutal working conditions in the quest for riches. The rainforest suffered too, with widespread environmental degradation as miners ripped apart the Amazon in their desperate hunt for gold.