Brazilian government lashes out at ‘The Economist’ over latest cover story

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian Government is lashing out at the British magazine The Economist. It accuses it of creating a “fallacious, histrionic and exaggerated” narrative after a critical report against the administration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

In a series of tweets published Sunday night, the Government Communication Secretariat (Secom) asserts that The Economist “buries journalistic ethics” and “extrapolates all the limits of public debate” in its special report, entitled “Time to go” and in which Christ the Redeemer appears with shortness of breath.

In the article, one of eight analyzing Brazil’s political and economic status, The Economist defends the urgency of defeating Bolsonaro at the ballot box and highlights the difficulties South America’s largest economy may face should the leader of Brazil’s far-right be re-elected in 2022.

“Intending to attack the president of the Republic and influence the political directions of Brazil, it distills a fan rhetoric and ends up, in truth, attacking the intense work of the Brazilian government,” Secom points out in one of the 23 tweets.

In one of its retorts, the government summarizes the “text narrative” allegedly employed by the British magazine, which addresses issues such as economy, corruption, and the Amazon, among other issues.

“The president as made out to be a dictator who is killing his own people; his followers are said to be ready for a civil war, and the Army is ready to intervene in case the president loses the next elections,” points out the Communication Secretariat.

The government also questions alleged contradictions on the part of The Economist and accuses the magazine of “juvenile pamphleteering” by pointing out the risk of destruction of the Brazilian Amazon under Bolsonaro’s administration.

“In other words: it seems that the desperation of Economist and militant, anti-democratic and irresponsible journalism is for the president of the Republic to be ELIMINATED as soon as possible before he and his government conclude the excellent work they do for the good of Brazil,” it highlights.

Secom also suggests that the magazine is trying to interfere in “domestic issues” and, “according to the text, advocates removing the president who is ridding Brazil of the corruption and subjection to oligarchies that the magazine seems to represent.”

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