Elon Musk told how the plan is to bring the internet to isolated Amazon areas in Brazil

the tycoon Elonk Musk met on Friday with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaroto analyze the country’s “economic potential” and announced its plan to “monitor” Amazon and expand the internet network to reach the farthest points of the region thanks on your satellite network.

Musk, the world’s richest man and founder of Tesla, was surprised on Friday during his visit to Brazil, where he met with the head of state at a luxury hotel in Porto Feliz, in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo, when they were missing five months for the presidential election.

On the table, according to Bolsonaro, are issues such as “Potential in the Brazilian economy”, investment, innovation, connectivity and use of technology to “strengthen protection” on Amazon.

In that sense, Musk announced the “launch” of its Starlink satellite system on 19,000 schools without connections to rural areas, a technology that, he said, would also allow “monitoring” of the Amazon environment.

“We need that connection” to protect Amazon, Musk stressed to a select group of entrepreneurs and students.

Brazil’s Minister of Communications, Fabio Farias, sponsoring the meeting, pointed out that low-altitude satellites could be launched in the Amazon region in “in the next few months”although he did not detail the investment of the project aimed at expanding the connection with Amazon.

Earlier this year, the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) authorized the operation of Starlink satellites, allowing access to the network through small antennas that are easy to install anywhere where out of reach of satellites. regular internet providers.

Starlink is authorized to post 40,000 satellites in the world and there are currently 2,000 launched 500 kilometers from the world. According to Musk’s own plans, Starlink could access the area in the first quarter of 2023.

According to the Brazilian far-right leader, Musk’s proposal to connect the most remote region of the Amazon using satellite internet could help reveal the “truth” about the largest tropical forest on the planet.

“We are relying on Musk so that the Amazon is known by everyone in Brazil and in the world, to show the joy of that region, how it is maintained and what is the harm to those who spread lies about that region,” he said. Bolsonaro in the statement. .

Deforestation in the Amazon has reached record levels during the most right-wing government, as revealed by current monitoring systems, and environmental organizations have attributed the increase in degradation to less control due to successive budget cuts and the president’s anti-environmental discourse.

Bolsonaro also favors economic exploitation of the forest and defends a bill to legalize industrial mining in native lands.

Musk, “myth of freedom”

Elon Musk’s trip to Brazil came nearly a month after the businessman announced the purchase of the social network Twitter for 44,000 million dollars, an operation that was suspended and received praise from Bolsonaro.

The Army Reserve captain, who has been in power since January 2019, called Musk a “myth of freedom” and considering that his decision to buy Twitter was a “breath of hope”.

“His presence is something immaterial. Now, we can call it a legend of freedom. The example he gave us, a few days ago, when he announced the purchase of Twitter, was like a breath of hope. for us, ”said Bolsonaro, who widely announced the conference on its social networks, where the issue of #BolsoMusk became the most talked about today.

Both Bolsonaro and his most right-wing followers criticized the policies to combat fake news and hate messages on social networks, considering it a violation of free expression.

The president seeks re -election in next October’s elections, where he will face former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a favorite in the polls, and for months he has doubted the reliability of the process. electoral in the country. , despite not There are allegations of fraud.

Bolsonaro, who imitated former US President Donald Trump in his speech, even announced that his Liberal Party would take an audit own organization in the next election in October.

With information from EFE