Women in the Lula government ignore the aggression against a journalist at Itamaraty

Women with prominent positions in the government of President Lula (PT), noted for frequent speeches in defense of women’s rights, ignored the aggression suffered by journalist Delis Ortiz, from TV Globo, at the Itamaraty Palace. On the night of this Tuesday (30), journalists were attacked by security guards of the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and by agents of the Institutional Security Office (GSI) of the federal government. Delis Ortiz, who has a prosthetic chest, was punched in the region by one of the security guards.

“Punch to the chest, which holds the breath. The impression it gave is that everything inside of me exploded. A feeling of impotence and violence that you feel in your skin”, said the journalist after the aggression.

Throughout the day following the episode, female government leaders, such as federal deputy and PT national president, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR); the Minister of Planning, Simone Tebet; and the first lady, Janja Silva, avoided talking about it.

In fact, the reactions to the episode throughout the government were quite limited: President Lula himself – who hours before had denied the serious violations of democracy, human rights and individual freedoms by the Venezuelan regime already attested by the UN – decided to remain silent on the case. .

Other government ministers, who collect speeches about violence against women, such as Sonia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples) and Anielle Franco (Racial Equality), also ignored the aggression. Even the Minister of Human Rights put the episode aside.

One of the rare positions that disagreed with the majority came from Minister Cida Gonçalves, who spoke out this Wednesday (31) repudiating “any and all aggression against journalists” and showing solidarity with the reporter. Other isolated demonstrations were from Itamaraty and the Press Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, which released notes of two lines each, lamenting what had happened and informing that “measures would be taken”. So far, however, no action has been announced and not even the perpetrators of the violence have been identified.

By ignoring the episode, the behavior of government supporters is repeated in relation to silencing Lula’s warm welcome to the dictator Maduro, whose government is marked by a series of crimes against humanity, which include executions, torture and disappearances of opponents.

Silence of female government leaders contrasts with past statements

Simone Tebet often speaks emphatically about freedom of the press. Throughout the 2022 election period, when she ran for president, she addressed the topic several times, in particular talking about the role of women in journalistic coverage. In August last year, she published a note of apology to journalist Vera Magalhães, a critic of Jair Bolsonaro, after the former president responded harshly during a debate between presidential candidates.

At the time, Bolsonaro said: “Vera, I couldn’t expect anything else from you. I think you sleep thinking about me. You have some crush on me. You can’t take sides in a debate like this, make false accusations about me. You’re a disgrace to journalism, but that’s okay.” At the time, Simone criticized the former president, stating that: “The Presidency of the Republic is a place of example, respect for freedom of the press and women.”

Gleisi Hoffmann, on the other hand, usually makes, especially on social networks, emphatic defenses of journalists who would be having their freedom of the press curtailed, but only those who tend to be faithful to PT agendas in their coverage. Last month, Gleisi even spoke out about what would have been an aggression against journalist Guga Noblat, who usually takes a favorable position on the Lula government’s guidelines. Part of the press began to report that federal deputy Mario Frias (PL-SP) had punched the journalist. However, videos that followed showed that there was no physical aggression. Even so, Gleisi went to social networks say that Bolsonarist parliamentarians would be “going after journalists”.

The first lady, on the other hand, has been betting on attempts to strengthen the government’s relationship with the press, and since the beginning of Lula’s new term, she has been organizing events to bring together professionals from journalistic vehicles with the president. In these meetings, Lula usually speaks emphatically about violence against journalists.

This Wednesday (31), the day after the attack on the journalist, Janja attended an event alongside the Minister of Women. She spoke about misogyny and prejudice against women, but preferred not to comment on the Delis Ortiz case. Last Monday, she published a photo on social media next to Nicolás Maduro. Among the crimes that the UN report released last year pointed out in relation to the Maduro regime are precisely the torture of journalists and the rape of women who are against the regime.

A People’s Gazette questioned all the women mentioned in this article about the possibility of taking a stand on the case of aggression against Delis Ortiz. There have been no returns to date.