Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo criticized one of his “heroes,” Brazilian radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on Thursday over the latter allegedly not doing enough to protect the Amazon Rainforest during a regional summit.
Through a series of messages on Twitter, posted by Ruffalo on Thursday in both English and Portuguese, the “heartbroken” actor demanded more action from Lula to protect the rainforest, claiming that this is the Brazilian president’s moment to become “the next Nelson Mandela.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on July 21, 2023. (SERGIO LIMA/AFP via Getty Images)
Ruffalo is an American self-declared “climate justice advocate” with no publicly known family ties to Brazil. He has inserted himself prominently in Brazilian politics, however, engaging in several feuds with conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro and appearing at a Lula campaign rally during the presidential election last year.
“You’re one of my heroes, Lula, but it breaks my heart to see the Belém Declaration has no concrete goals to protect the rainforest,” Ruffalo wrote on Twitter. “The Amazon emergency is a climate emergency, and we can’t afford any delays.”
The Hollywood actor’s message was in reference to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) summit, which Lula hosted in the city of Belém on Tuesday and Wednesday. The summit gathered both regional presidents and representatives from ACTO member nations, as well as representatives of Norway, Germany, and France.
President Joe Biden, despite having made a pledge of 2.5 billion Brazilian reais ($500 million) to Brazil’s Amazon Fund this year, was not invited to the event.
The summit concluded with the signing of the “Declaration of Belém,” a document that environmentalist groups have deemed to be “very weak,” as it lacks the concrete unified deforestation goals that some environmentalists wished for — it does, however, include demands for “rich” countries to pay for the conservation of the Amazon Rainforest as an “historic responsibility for climate change.”
“It’s not Brazil that needs money. It’s not Colombia that needs money. It’s not Venezuela. It’s nature that industrial development polluted over 200 years,” Lula told reporters at the end of the summit.
After expressing his lament over Lula’s lack of action, Ruffalo continued by praising the actions of Colombia’s far-left President Gustavo Petro, who made calls to stop drilling oil in the Amazon during the event.
Under President @petrogustavo, Colombia is the first Amazon nation to back what science demands: a goal to protect 80% of the rainforest by 2025, and a call to stop oil drilling in the Amazon.
That is precisely the kind of leadership humanity needs from you, Mr. President.
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) August 10, 2023
During the Amazon summit, Petro once again made calls to stop drilling oil and transition towards a “decarbonized” economy, going as far as to label the region’s left-wing rulers who approve fossil fuel projects as “progressive deniers.”
Petro’s statements were not well received by the president of the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, who said on Wednesday that Petro’s proposals do not have the maturity to be presented as an item of international commitment and have no meaningful support, not even in Colombia. Petrobras is presently in talks towards establishing an oil prospecting venture in a maritime area of Brazil’s Amazon region.
Petro, who Ruffalo described on his Twitter account as the “kind of leadership humanity needs,” is a former member of the Marxist M19 guerilla and became the first left-wing president in the history of Colombian in August 2022. Petro is a largely unpopular far-left president who has seen his disapproval ratings rise during his first year in office, hovering at 61 percent as of this week.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro on May 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Paul White)
His son, Nicolás Petro Burgos, is currently at the center of a probe into alleged money laundering and illicit enrichment linked to Gustavo Petro’s presidential campaign. Last week, Petro Burgos, who was released from prison after agreeing to collaborate with Colombian prosecutors, admitted that undeclared amounts of illegal money from drug traffickers did enter his father’s presidential campaign.
“Perhaps you feel that making bolder commitments is impossible,” Ruffalo said to Lula. “But in the words of one of your great heroes, Nelson Mandela: ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done.’”
“Sir, this is your moment to be the next Nelson Mandela. If you get it done,” he continued. “Hundreds of millions of years of precious evolution have led to this unprecedented moment in the weeks before [The United Nations General Assembly] asking you to shift the course of destiny. Be brave, sir. We’re with you, but we’re watching you. Let’s do this.”
Over the past years, Ruffalo has vehemently sought to insert himself in Brazilian politics through alleged concern for the Amazon Rainforest, making the matter a crucial cornerstone of his expressed support for Lula — a socialist convicted felon — during Brazil’s 2022 presidential election.
In 2020, Americans only defeated Donald Trump because record voters used their democratic rights, especially young people. To defeat Bolsonaro, Brazilians aged 16 and 17, must register to vote in the next elections. They have until May 4th to do this at https://t.co/EzvkuIzyrL https://t.co/cbIfSWYwZ9
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) March 24, 2022
The Hollywood actor was among a group of fellow celebrities who rejoiced when Lula narrowly defeated conservative Jair Bolsonaro last year.
Prior to Lula’s election, Ruffalo maintained a fierce campaign against former president Jair Bolsonaro over the Amazon Rainforest. In June 2022, Ruffalo urged President Joe Biden not to meet with Bolsonaro in a scheduled encounter during the Ninth Summit of the Americas held that month.
After Biden met with Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president responded to Ruffalo by mocking him with the nickname “Mark Ruffles,” in reference to the American brand of potato chips.
In 2021, Ruffalo joined other celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Fonda, Alec Baldwin, Orlando Bloom, and Katy Perry in a pressure campaign against Bolsonaro, signing an open letter that urged Biden not to engage in any kind of environment-related cooperation with Bolsonaro.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.