Haddad on Bolsonaro in Davos: 'He could barely speak'
"(Outside the country) people are perplexed about Brazil. There is a discrepancy between what is reported by the press in Brazil and what is reported abroad. Just look at the repercussion of the Davos speech today, in the international and local press. In the local press, we are almost witnessing the speech of a statesman," he said ironically. "In the international press, the frustration is enormous. Brazil has never been so poorly represented in an international forum. He could barely say what he had gone there to say," said Fernando Haddad about Bolsonaro in Davos.
From Rede Brasil Atual - Former mayor of São Paulo and former minister Fernando Haddad explained tonight (22), in Lisbon, to an audience that filled the Casa do Alentejo, for the debate Democracy and loss of rights in Brazil, that "there was no mere alternation of power" and that the government of Jair Bolsonaro can be evaluated by the speech made by the current president of the Republic in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum.
"(Outside the country) people are perplexed about Brazil. There is a discrepancy between what is reported by the press in Brazil and what is reported abroad. Just look at the repercussions of the Davos speech today, in the international and local press. In the local press, we are almost witnessing the speech of a statesman," he said ironically. "In the international press, the frustration is enormous. Brazil has never been so poorly represented in an international forum. He could barely say what he had gone there to say."
At another point, he added: "We don't have impartial media outlets that are committed to the truth at all costs. Most media outlets are laudatory of the current government."
Presidential candidate in 2018, Haddad believes that the speech in Davos sent "terrible and contradictory signals." "It's unclear what kind of national project they want. The back-and-forth is dramatic about everything. Tomorrow you might receive the news that nothing said today is valid. Because there is military control."
He questioned "the increasingly explicit link" between members of the government and the Bolsonaro family with militias. "The (deputies') offices are teeming with militiamen. Why would a deputy hire militiamen, relatives of militiamen, as his staff? Are these people prepared to draft legislation?"
According to Haddad, the government is formed by three core groups. "A fundamentalist obscurantist core, a neoliberal core, and it has military oversight." He observed that there is a significant difference between losing an election to the right, because in this case some rights are preserved, and being defeated by the far-right. "Above all (a far-right) of this nature that has taken over Brazil. Everything is up for discussion: secular education, the self-organization of the popular movement. The leaders of the landless and homeless may or may not be treated as terrorists."
The Workers' Party member again criticized the press, saying that it "treats as natural" facts such as, for example, the Minister of Education (Vélez Rodríguez) saying that the ENEM (National High School Exam) belongs to the President of the Republic and that he can censor the exam prepared by educators. "With all due respect, who is Bolsonaro to judge an educator? Is a person who can't even put together a 10-word sentence going to judge an educator?", he questioned.
The former mayor spoke briefly about the scandal involving Flávio Bolsonaro, again using irony. "If he can prove the increase in his assets, he has to replace Paulo Guedes. Because he's a genius."