Janja and Lula| Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/PT

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kept the list of 3,500 guests for the cocktail party offered at the Itamaraty Palace after the presidential inauguration, on January 1st, confidential for 5 years.

Itamaraty’s argument is that “information that could jeopardize the safety of the president and vice president and their respective spouses and children will be reserved”. The information is from Veja magazine, which requested the data through the LAI (Access to Information Law).

The agency also informed that “as widely publicized, this year’s event saw the visit of the largest number of foreign delegations since the 2016 Olympic Games. There were a total of 73 foreign delegations, in addition to almost 80 representatives of the Diplomatic Corps in Brasília” .

The justification given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is similar to that of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who still kept the vaccine card and covid-19 tests confidential.