Gilberto clarifies his presence at the demonstration.
In a statement, the Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Gilberto Carvalho, said that he made a point of inspecting a demonstration against World Youth Day, and not a protest against the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral; he also denied any ill-feeling with the PMDB: "I emphatically repudiate these attempts to create discord between me and some of the major leaders of the PMDB, the main ally of the PT in supporting the government of President Dilma Rousseff, with whom I maintain a systematic and constructive relationship"; read the full statement.
247 - On Monday morning, the Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Gilberto Carvalho, published a statement clarifying his participation in an event related to World Youth Day, which caused some unease among PMDB leaders. According to the minister, he was inspecting a protest against WYD and not participating in a protest against Governor Sergio Cabral (read more). hereSee below for the full text of Gilberto Carvalho's statement:
05.08.2013 - Press Release from Minister Gilberto Carvalho
August 5th, 2013
I was at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro from July 22nd to 28th, with the Minister of Justice, José Eduardo Cardozo, coordinating the federal government's support for the event's logistics and security. During this period, I maintained constant contact with Governor Sérgio Cabral and Mayor Eduardo Paes, and our synergy was fundamental to the success of Pope Francis's visit to Brazil, which brought together more than 3,5 million people in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, without any serious incidents being recorded.
Late in the afternoon of Friday the 26th, alerted by the Command and Control Center, I personally accompanied, for about 15 minutes, a demonstration heading towards the WYD stage on Copacabana beach, where Pope Francis was located, with the objective of guiding the actions of the security forces and preventing clashes between demonstrators and pilgrims. The main slogans of the demonstration were for a secular state and against the public spending carried out to support WYD. My presence was covered and reported by journalists from Folha de S.Paulo and Agência Brasil.
This past weekend, taking advantage of a video of this episode released on YouTube, some websites spread the fanciful version that I had orchestrated and supported the demonstration against the governor of Rio de Janeiro, or even that I was encouraging demonstrations against the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros.
I emphatically repudiate these attempts to alienate me from some of the top leaders of the PMDB, the main ally of the PT in supporting President Dilma Rousseff's government, with whom I maintain a systematic and constructive relationship. Obviously, none of these examples of bad journalism have any connection to or commitment to the facts, nor did they listen to me to ensure my democratic right to clarify my presence in the aforementioned video.
Brasilia, August 5, 2013
Gilberto Carvalho
Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic