Assault on journalists occurred while they were trying to interview Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro at Itamaraty| Photo: EFE/ André Coelho.

The chief minister of the Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency of the Republic, Paulo Pimenta, said this Friday (2/6) that the aggression of journalists during a press conference with the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, was due to a lack of “training and “preparation” of security agents.

The dictator’s security guards wanted to prevent the journalists from approaching and, in the confusion, the reporter Delis Ortiz, from TV Globo, was hit by a member of the GSI with a punch in the chest. Other professionals would also have been attacked. After the episode, Itamaraty and Secom regretted the attacks and sympathized with the journalists.

According to Pimenta, the agents working at that time were from the Army Battalion and had been requested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I talked to the [ministro do Gabinete de Segurança Institucional] General Amaro and he told me that some of those young people who were working there were young people from the Army battalion that the Itamaraty asked them to go and work in support. And I realized that there was not, perhaps, even training, preparation,” said the minister.

The head of Secom added that he intends to create an environment to bring together security agents and journalists “not only to show our appreciation for the press”, but so that they start to see journalists as someone who fulfills “a fundamental role for democracy”.