Siemens and Alstom's "tucanos" (a derogatory term for politicians) - Globo thinks the people are stupid.

For more than ten years, the political parties, led by the PT (Workers' Party), which form the coalition to strengthen the political and partisan base of the Labor government in the National Congress, as well as regarding the administrative control of the ministries, have been systematically accused and denounced by the bourgeois media for all kinds of corruption. Countless times, these accusations have fallen apart because, in reality, they were nothing more than conjecture and malicious gossip, as strong as a shot into the waters of a river or lake.

However, such unfounded accusations and baseless denunciations caused great professional, political, and personal distress and harm to many people, whose lives were exposed and who morally suffered all kinds of scorn, mockery, and humiliation, while the mainstream press refused to give the same space in the different media outlets that this private communication system controls to politicians, authorities, and many of their advisors so that they could at least offer explanations or defend themselves.

Ministers have fallen, such as Orlando Silva, from Sports, and Carlos Lupi, from Labor, among others, as well as the Chief of Staff of President Dilma Rousseff, Erenice Guerra, who, since the time of the Labor president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had suffered from accusations from an irresponsible, biased, and undeniably partisan and ideologically right-wing press, which, unwilling to listen to her, systematically attacked her, until Dilma removed her from office so that the minister could defend herself in court and, consequently, give an answer to Brazilian society regarding the accusations.

Erenice was accused, in a report by Veja magazine, which was later picked up by the newspapers Estadão, Folha de S. Paulo and O Globo, as well as Jornal Nacional, of setting up a bribery center in the Presidential Palace that charged businessmen 6% to expedite the processing of projects. Erenice's son, Israel Guerra, was presented by the corporate press as a "business consultant".

After two years away from the Presidential Palace, Erenice Guerra had her case dismissed by the Regional Federal Court. The accusations that the minister had committed influence peddling and that her son was a lobbyist were deemed unfounded. The judge of the 10th Federal Court, Vallisney de Souza Oliveira, stated in his decision that there was no evidence against the former Chief of Staff. Criminal lawyer Mário de Oliveira Filho said at the time that the evidence presented in the investigation led to the conclusion that the former minister had not committed any crime. He emphasized: "These were absolutely unfounded accusations, without any real or concrete evidence against her."

A similar and equally serious case occurred with the governor of the Federal District, Agnelo Queiroz, of the PT (Workers' Party). The illegal gambling operator, "director and editor" of a magazine, Carlinhos Cachoeira, in collusion with Veja magazine (owned by Robert Civita) and journalist Policarpo Jr., also known as "Caneta" (Pen), attempted to oust the governor of Brasília by implicating him in corruption, influence peddling, and business dealings with the illegal gambling operator who was a partner of the ousted DEM (Democrats) senator from Goiás, Demóstenes Torres, in addition to his influence in the government of Marconi Perillo, a politician from Goiás who testified before the Cachoeira Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry and who is still under investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Agnelo also testified before the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI), spoke frankly, and presented compelling evidence that he never had any dealings with Cachoeira, the "agenda setter" for Veja magazine, and that his government did not participate in any negotiations, business dealings, or agreements with this individual, who was imprisoned in the Papuda prison in Brasília. After his emblematic participation in the CPMI, Agnelo was forgotten by the private business press, which needed a scapegoat, preferably from the Workers' Party (PT), to counter the mud, the quagmire in which Governor Perillo, Carlinhos Cachoeira, Veja magazine and its director, Caneta, as well as Demóstenes Torres, until then considered by the press, with Lacerdist reasoning, the herald of family, morality, and good customs, and perhaps of posterity, were mired. Well... The coup didn't succeed, and the PT member Agnelo emerged strengthened while the coup-supporting press had to swallow him.

These facts that I narrate here in this forum of Brasil 247 represent a tiny percentage compared to what the owners of the private media system do and accomplish to politically destabilize republican institutions and disqualify and demoralize the legitimately and legally elected officials of the Brazilian people, even more so when the authority to be combated operates in the left-wing field.

The foreign and subservient press equivocates, dissimulates, and distorts the truth, the facts, and the events. It does so in the name of freedom of expression and of the press, as a way to deceive the naive, the unwary, the ignorant, and it allies itself with those who become its accomplices, because they know, even instinctively, that the commercial press fights against labor activists and the left in general.

Because of this, they buy into the "noise," the interests of the bourgeois press, because they are ideologically conservative, like the middle-class "coxinha" (a derogatory term for right-wingers), who certainly understand what they are doing when they take to the streets in an "apolitical" and "non-partisan" way, breaking and burning everything in their path, because they are against "everything that is there," an assertive phrase that means Lula, Dilma, the PT (Workers' Party), the left, and labor activists.

Furthermore, the demonstrations by these individuals were considered "peaceful," a keyword used by journalists from the private business press to downplay the violence of those who committed violence and crimes, simply because, for the imperialist media, such movements can benefit the political interests of the opposition party, and, evidently, of their bosses, who even own public concessions for media outlets such as radio and television.

The truth is this: granting public communication concessions without oversight is a donation. The 1988 Constitution regulates the media, but to this day important articles of the Magna Carta on this subject have not been regulated. And the result is what it is: billionaire businessmen who do not respect the constitutional order and who, even disguising their coup-plotting nature through the opinions of their scribes, hate democracy and the democratic rule of law. The six families that control the private media even admire the system of dictatorship, preferably a military one, as occurred from 1964 to 1985.

To the dismay and concern of the press barons, the multinational companies Siemens and Alstom have decided to file accusations, as they are facing legal difficulties in their countries of origin—Germany and France, as well as in the United States. The accusations of forming cartels to win bids for the São Paulo subway construction have implicated governors Mário Covas (deceased), José Serra, and Geraldo Alckmin, all from the PSDB party. The sums involved are enormous (R$ 425 million) and have stirred the public imagination.

The PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) denies the allegations, as expected; and Governor Alckmin responds to the accusations as if he had rehearsed in front of a mirror what to say to the mainstream press, which, for about ten days after the allegations, decided to show its face and publish something about yet another scandal involving PSDB politicians, but always giving the PSDB members a voice to provide explanations and defend themselves, as Governor Geraldo Alckmin, former Governor José Serra, councilman Andrea Matarazzo, and others who are or have been part of the São Paulo state governments controlled by the PSDB for the past 20 years do daily.

Moreover, Rede Globo, unlike Folha de S. Paulo, which, to the surprise of many readers, has been pointing out the open wound that affects the political interests of the market-driven press and the PSDB party, has sought to give negative publicity to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), an agency linked to the Ministry of Justice, which is investigating the formation of a cartel in bidding processes for the acquisition of equipment, construction, and maintenance of subway and train lines in São Paulo.

To downplay and distort the news evidence catching the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) members red-handed, Globo and newspapers, such as Estadão, cite the Federal District, where the governor is from the PT (Workers' Party), to confuse the public and discredit the investigations by CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) and the Federal Police, by echoing and lending credibility to accusations that CADE has become the PT's political police, as some journalists from foreign press outlets and politicians linked to the PSDB have "cleverly" claimed. These accusations from the PSDB are absurd and malicious, because CADE is an independent Brazilian state agency that has investigated numerous cases linked to PT members, who have been out of power for 11 years.

Geraldo Alckmin requested access to the proceedings from CADE (Brazil's antitrust agency), which was, of course, denied by the agency. The issue of the Siemens and Alstom allegations is not equivalent to a political dispute, as conservative sectors of the private press and the politicians, businessmen, state secretaries, and technicians involved in alleged corruption and wrongdoing conducted and carried out by PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) authorities would have us believe.

The conspiracy theory in which the PT (Workers' Party) is the conspirator is a farce, a hoax, and it won't stick, because even the issue of the Federal District has already been "forgotten" by the mainstream press, which rushed to try to downplay yet another PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) scandal, but quickly realized that the wrongdoings in the Federal District are related to the governments of Joaquim Roriz, the senator who resigned to avoid being impeached, and José Roberto Arruda, the impeached governor who was imprisoned for months. Agnelo Queiroz, from the PT, had no involvement whatsoever with Alstom and Siemens; so much so that the insinuations against him stopped and his name disappeared from the headlines.

The São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating those involved in this R$ 425 million scandal, according to CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) and the Public Prosecutor's Office. The investigation focuses on alleged illicit enrichment and money laundering of public funds by São Paulo authorities. The contracts signed between the multinational companies and the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) and the Metro are worth approximately R$ 1,925 billion, or almost R$ 2 billion. If the bidding process were not rigged, the costs of the works and maintenance would be 30% lower, according to figures provided by Siemens and also reported by the mainstream press.

The loss for São Paulo and its taxpayers amounts to R$ 557 million, according to documents from the German company. Meanwhile, São Paulo and its capital city offer one of the worst transportation services in Brazil, with limited options, a lack of business competition, and vehicles (trains and subway) overcrowded with citizens of São Paulo, the city of São Paulo, and Brazil, who are crammed in worse conditions than cattle.

Up until now, the slogan "Come to the streets!" hasn't been heard with any vigor! And even less have we read or heard any "experts" from Globo News, from open television channels, or journalists, commentators, columnists, and bloggers putting out the fire that is this scandal with gasoline. And that is, without a doubt, what these journalists and "experts" did when the streets were occupied by the opportunistic, right-wing middle class, who took to the streets drooling with hatred to contest "everything that's there," that is, Dilma, Lula, the PT, and the labor government.

The truth is that the railroad gang is being exposed because Siemens and Alstom have denounced authorities from successive PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) governments in São Paulo. Moreover, it's worth remembering, or rather, not forgetting: these two multinational companies also face accusations, denunciations, and are the target of investigations in their countries of origin and in the United States. Furthermore, Estadão revealed that the Public Prosecutor's Office knows that public officials received bribes, which were deposited into three offshore companies based in Uruguay.

However, I insist, broadcast television, and especially Globo, addresses the issue timidly, which, undeniably, was not the journalistic stance they took, for example, with the PT, Lula, Dilma, and especially with PT members José Dirceu and José Genoíno in the last 11 years. There is no comparison; and even those citizens who become hydrophobic when they hear or read the words socialist, labor, and PT member will realize that the mainstream press has a side, a color, an ideology, takes sides, and has fought against the left since ancient times.

They act this way without even bothering to do journalism for the whole of society. They don't care about listening to the sides involved, with the aim of giving an active voice to those who are the target of denunciations, accusations and even cowardice, many of which are pre-calculated, as they have the purpose of deconstructing those whom the owners of the private media system consider the enemies to be defeated or destroyed.

Today, for example, the Jornal Hoje news program on TV Globo, anchored by journalists Evaristo Costa and Sandra Annenberg, did not address the Siemens and Alscom plea bargain with CADE (Brazil's antitrust agency), which has left São Paulo authorities and members of the PSDB party in a very difficult situation, as they are accused of corruption amounting to R$ 425 million. That's a lot of money in a single case, let's make that clear. Jornal Hoje focused on scandalous cases related to violent crimes and robbery, such as the case of the boy who allegedly killed four members of his family, two of whom are police officers; the case of Isabela Nardoni, killed by her father and stepmother, who have been imprisoned for five years; the case of Amarildo, who disappeared from Rocinha and for whom police officers are accused and investigated; and the famous case of the Pay Train, which featured, among other things, the thief Ronald Biggs, who lived in Brazil for decades and stole £2,6 million in 1963.

As can be seen, Globo is a lost cause of brazenness, incongruity, incoherence, and terrible journalism. Does this mean that a scandal of this magnitude, involving two powerful European multinationals, politicians from the PSDB party in São Paulo—undoubtedly among the most powerful in the country, and leading the opposition to the Workers' Party governments—as well as the powerful São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office and the CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) of the Ministry of Justice, is not a news item for Globo, relevant to the nation and important because of the individuals mentioned, the monetary values, and the institutions involved?

So, Globo (its owners, directors, and editors), in its traditional afternoon news program, Jornal Hoje, "forgets" about this topic or engages in open politics with the utmost recklessness, consequently hiding an elephant under the table and believing that no one sees or perceives the partisan and ideological journalism that this publicly licensed television network presents to the Brazilian people? The reality is that this private company lives in a surreal world, where it determines that its interests and those of its allies are above the interests of Brazil and the 200 million Brazilians who struggle daily to have access to a better quality of life.

What is Globo? A state within the nation-state? How can a private company act as the opposition and yet the constituted authorities do nothing about it? Articles of the 1988 Constitution, which deal with the regulatory framework, have not yet been regulated and have been "forgotten" by those who have the constitutional obligation to regulate them, such as the Federal Government and its representatives in the National Congress. Siemens and Alstom want to get rid of lawsuits in various countries and numerous skeletons in their closets. And several of these skeletons have the DNA and fingerprints of the PSDB party, despite the circumlocutions and subterfuges of the Globo Organizations(?) and the press in general. Globo thinks the people are fools. That's it.