Merchant reports assault on flight for reading Carta Capital.
Elbio de Freitas Flores was loudly called a "Bolivarian" and a "member of the São Paulo Forum" when he arrived in Brasília last week; "I've heard several reports of similar cases and we cannot remain silent. They had the characteristic behavior of cowards and unprepared individuals. They were embarrassing people, acting as a group, like a pack. Democratic parties must react to this type of aggression," he commented.
Marco Weissheimer, from Sul 21
When he boarded a flight in Porto Alegre bound for Brasília, last Wednesday (27), the merchant Elbio de Freitas Flores, 65, did not suspect that his choice of reading for the trip would provoke an unusual aggression. When the plane landed in Brasília, a group of about 20 people, located at the back of the plane, began to chant against Dilma, Lula and the PT. This group was arriving in Brasília to participate in the event led by the Free Brazil Movement for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.
The merchant reports that, while waiting for the plane doors to open to disembark, he was confronted and verbally assaulted by one of these men for carrying Carta Capital, "an idiotic magazine read by idiots," according to the aggressor. Furthermore, he was shouted at and called a "Bolivarian" and a "member of the São Paulo Forum."
Elbio Flores decided not to remain silent in the face of the attack and called the aggressor a coup plotter, a sellout, and a member of the TFP (Tradition, Family and Property). "They showed themselves to be very cowardly and tried to intimidate me with shouts and prevent me from speaking, all because I was reading Carta Capital," he told Sul21. One of the members of this group recorded the incident with a cell phone. A 1 minute 30 second excerpt was published on the page of state deputy Marcel Vam Hattem (PP-RS), with the following text: "La Banda Loka Liberal lands in Brasília: makes an entire plane happy and leaves an angry PT supporter hurt."
The merchant decided to speak publicly about the case because he believes that similar aggressions are occurring and must be met with a response. "I've heard several reports of similar cases, and we can't remain silent. They behaved like cowards and unprepared individuals. They were harassing people, acting as a group, like a pack. Democratic parties must react to this type of aggression. I have friends in the PP, PSDB, and several other parties, and I interact with them civilly and respectfully, without attacking anyone. I was attacked, and I reacted."
This type of stance, added Elbio Flores, "reveals an obtuse and retrograde spirit, an obscurantist and authoritarian way of thinking that despises democracy, freedom of expression, and differences of opinion."