Brazil’s Vice President Admits Mistakes in Fighting Amazon Deforestation

BRASÍLIA—Brazil’s conservative president, Jair Bolsonaro, has responded to international criticism over deforestation in the Amazon by lashing out at other world leaders and environmentalists and asserting that what the rainforest needs is more economic development, not less.

But Mr. Bolsonaro’s vice president, Hamilton Mourão, struck a decidedly different tone in an interview with The Wall Street Journal this week. He offered a rare mea culpa and said that the government hadn’t directed enough resources and attention to reducing…