A US newspaper report over the weekend alleging that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had a drinking problem was branded "calumny and defamation" by a presidential spokeswoman.
A lengthy article, headlined "Brazilian leader's tippling becomes national concern," in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, brought swift denunciations from the president's staff.
PHOTO: AP
"We do not consider this article to be valid journalism," presidential spokeswoman Marcia Ornelas said Sunday.
"It is a piece of calumny and defamation and shows a prejudice against the president," the spokeswoman said.
Andre Singer, Silva's chief of communications, said on Sunday night that Brazil's ambassador to the US, Roberto Abdenur, has been instructed "to transmit to the publication in question the indignation and surprise of the Brazilian government at the gratuitous insults aimed at the president."
Singer added that "the president's social habits are moderate and in line with those of average Brazilians."
The Times article noted that Silva is frequently seen in photographs and TV news clips with a glass of whiskey or domestic rum in his hand. It also quoted a one-time political ally, former Rio de Janeiro Governor Leonel Brizola, as warning Silva that "distilled beverages are dangerous."
In a press statement, Silva's personal secretary Gilberto Carvalho said: "The Brazilian government should study harsh measures against a report such as this."
Ornelas said a defamation suit against the Times was "a possibility," but added that no decision regarding such an action had been taken as of Sunday. She said top presidential aides were due to meet yesterday to discuss fallout from the article and a possible legal response.
The writer of the article, Times correspondent Larry Rohter, was traveling outside Brazil and was unavailable for comment Sunday, his secretary said. Members of the newspaper's Corporate Communications Department were not immediately available for comment.
Ornelas said Silva was spending the weekend with his family in the presidential palace in Brasilia.
Allegations about potentially damaging personal habits and characteristics have been a part of Brazil's political scene for decades.
The diaries of Getulio Vargas, published in the 1990s, showed what medical experts called a tendency toward depression in the man who served longest as Brazilian president, a total of 18 years from the 1930s through the early 1950s. In 1954, Vargas committed suicide rather than face impeachment and trial for corruption in Brazil's Congress.
A president who was impeached, Fernando Collor de Mello, was dogged during his two-year presidency by allegations of cocaine use, which he always vehemently denied.
De Mello was impeached and removed from office in 1992 when corruption charges rocked his administration.
Historians have long pointed to alcohol abuse as part of a pattern of volatile behavior that undermined the brief presidency of Janio Quadros, who resigned as chief executive after only seven months in 1961, igniting a long political crisis that finally resulted in two decades of military rule starting in 1964.
Brazilians, on the other hand, have been traditionally more forgiving of their politicians than citizens of other countries.
Recent biographies of Juscelino Kubitschek, the president who built the shining new capital of Brasilia in the late 1950s, point out that frequent gossip about the president's womanizing during his term did little to tarnish his reputation with voters.
The knowledge that Silva had fathered an illegitimate daughter in the 1970s did not prevent voters from giving him a landslide victory in the 2002 presidential election.
Silva has acknowledged his paternity of Lurian Cordeiro.
A former lathe operator with a fifth-grade education, Silva has been given wide latitude by most voters in Brazil, a country in which two-thirds of the population characterizes itself as being part of the rural or urban working class.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS