Will the Truth Commission summon Marinho's children to explain Globo's collaboration with the dictatorship?

The National Truth Commission has finally decided to summon executives from companies that cooperated with the military dictatorship to provide explanations.

According to an article in Folha this Tuesday (9), "one of the group's investigation focuses, the collaboration of national and foreign companies with the repression, will be the subject of a hearing... 'We are still going to study the various forms of accountability for these companies, but there are international treaties and understandings that say that, in situations like that of the dictatorship, the accountability of companies and businessmen cannot be forgotten', highlighted Rosa Cardoso", a member of the commission.

The question remains: will Roberto Marinho's children be summoned?

Ultimately, Grupo Globo – the new name for the media empire – helped create the climate for the 1964 coup that overthrew João Goulart, the democratically elected president; it supported the military dictatorship; it did everything possible to prevent its end, including sabotaging the Diretas Já (Direct Elections Now) campaign; and it built its powerful business corporation with the help of the ruthless generals.

It is no exaggeration to say that the company run by the late Roberto Marinho was one of those that most collaborated with the military regime. Without its support – and that of several other media outlets – the coup would hardly have occurred and the dictatorship would not have lasted so long – the 20 dark years of torture, assassinations and other barbaric crimes.

Promiscuous intimacy with the generals

As jurist Marcelo Semer has already pointed out, the support of Rede Globo was decisive in prolonging the dictatorship.read here"The most serious fact is not even that a major businessman, like many others, wholeheartedly embraced the coup against democracy. Without them, in fact, the dictatorship would never have been imposed. But rather that, in the case of a media outlet, it buried its own reason for existing by doing so, because to remain faithful to the spirit of the 'revolution' (that is, the coup), it prevented much information from coming to light, even after the end of censorship. It was for this reason that the Diretas Já campaign disappeared from TV Globo's screens."

In a memorable article entitled "Globo and the dictatorship, according to Walter Clark" [read hereIn his article, journalist Argemiro Ferreira detailed Roberto Marinho's sinister collaboration. "Globo owed the regime even the introduction of color TV – imposed by the Minister of Communications, Colonel Higino Corsetti, God knows to satisfy what multinational lobby. But the promiscuous intimacy with the regime went further, to the point of sharing with the SNI (National Information Service) the clandestine services of the 'broker' in charge of clearing contraband at Customs: for the company, TV equipment; for the military of official espionage, sophisticated illegal listening devices."

Lincoln Gordon's confession

Journalist Helena Sthephanowitz recently published [...]read hereDocuments that prove that Roberto Marinho was one of the masterminds of the coup and one of those responsible for the hardening of the dictatorship. In one of them, dated August 1965, Ambassador Lincoln Gordon reports to the US government that the owner of Rede Globo "was working quietly" with a group composed of Generals Ernesto Geisel, head of the Military House, Golbery do Couto e Silva, head of the National Information Service (SNI), and Luis Vianna, head of the Civil House, for the extension of the mandate of dictator Castelo Branco. Meetings between Roberto Marinho and the Yankee "ambassador" were common.

It is also worth mentioning the interview given to Luiz Carlos Azenha by Professor Fabio Venturini, who did his master's thesis at PUC-SP on businessmen and the dictatorship.read here"If any company benefited, the one that benefited the most was Globo... Roberto Marinho participated in orchestrating the coup, made donations to IPES [Institute of Economic and Social Research, which organized the coup]... In '65, the gift, the quid pro quo, was the concession of TV channels, TV Globo Channel 4 in Rio de Janeiro and Channel 5 in São Paulo... In the 1970s, the telecommunications infrastructure was practically nonexistent in Brazil and was entirely built with state money, enabling the first television news program in the entire national territory, JN."

The first in line to give their testimonies.

Other studies, such as the classic book organized by César Bolaño and Valério Cruz – "Rede Globo: 40 years of power and hegemony" – could serve as supporting material for the Truth Commission to immediately summon Roberto Marinho's three children. The summons could also be based on the newspaper O Globo's own "self-criticism," published in August 2013. In an editorial, the Marinho family admitted for the first time – albeit clumsily and mischievously – that they supported the coup and the military dictatorship. Even confessing that "the editorial support for the 1964 coup was a mistake," the newspaper still downplayed the monstrosity of the crime. "It was a mistake, but at that moment it was essential for the maintenance of democracy."

The Globo Group continues to commit its crimes daily. It has become, currently, the main party of the coup-plotting right wing in Brazil. It even did everything to sabotage the establishment of the National Truth Commission, fearing being called to the defendant's bench. In 2012, the newspaper, radio stations, and open and cable television channels of this media empire produced several attacks against the investigation of the crimes of the dictatorship. To this day, this illegal cross-ownership attempts to undermine the investigations. The very editorial cited above was an attempt to prevent the worst. These and other facts fully justify summoning, among the first in line, the heirs of Roberto Marinho.

Published in Viomundo