The Azevêdo case shows how Veja became InVeja.
The historic victory of Brazilian Roberto Azevêdo at the World Trade Organization, the most important multilateral organization on the planet, earned a footnote in the dates section of the country's largest weekly magazine; with this behavior, similar to that of blogger Reinaldo Azevedo, who began to consider the WTO irrelevant after a Brazilian's victory, the magazine vindicates those who point to it as an instrument of bias against the country.
247 - Imagine the grumbling of the editors at Veja magazine when Brazilian Roberto Azevêdo was announced as the new Director-General of the World Trade Organization last Tuesday – enough time for the magazine, if it wanted, to produce a lengthy profile of the Brazilian diplomat who went furthest in the entire history of Itamaraty (the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). "Nonsense," the editor-in-chief, Eurípedes Alcântara, must have said, echoing the position of blogger Reinaldo Azevedo, who began to treat the WTO as irrelevant after a Brazilian took its helm – if he had lost, of course, it would have been yet another example of the incompetence of the Workers' Party's diplomacy.
The editorial choice of Veja, Brazil's largest weekly magazine, couldn't be more explicit. Azevêdo deserved a meager footnote in the magazine's Dates section – the one reserved for obituaries. But it wasn't just any note. It was the last one, less important than the deaths of Ray Harryhausen (does anyone know him?), a master of special effects, the fashion designer Otavio Missoni, and the Olympic sailing champion Andrew Simpson, another illustrious unknown.
The Brazilian's victory also received less attention than the retirement of English football manager Alex Ferguson from Manchester United.
That's how Veja, with its usual subtlety, conveyed its message. The WTO, the world's largest multilateral organization, certainly has no importance whatsoever. But even if it did, it doesn't deserve to have a Brazilian at its helm, since Brazil, as the international press says, is no champion of free trade.
It is for these and other reasons that Veja deserves the nickname InVeja and is always pointed out as an instrument of combat against national interests and as a vehicle that roots against the country's success.