Brasilia (AFP)
Four o'clock in the morning on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on an official visit, posts on Twitter a long video in which he foams furiously against TV Globo, who linked his name to the assassination of activist Marielle Franco "to destroy it".
The charge against the media behemoth is staggering: the head of state, from Ryad, more than 11,000 km from Brasilia, and in the middle of the night, shrieks, insults and sometimes seems on the verge of tears in this video of 24 minutes.
"You, TV Globo, all the time you made a hell of my life, shit! Now it binds me to the death of Marielle (Franco) infamous scoundrels! It will not work, I never had any reason to kill anyone in Rio de Janeiro, "hammered the head of state in his video live.
"It's a real bastard, Globo, a bastard!", He said, out of him.
The sponsors of the assassination of the black and lesbian city councilor of Rio de Janeiro, riddled with bullets in the middle of Rio with her driver, have so far not been identified.
But Tuesday, in his evening newspaper, TV Globo said that a suspect had surrendered on 14 March 2018, a few hours before the assassination, in the residential complex of Rio where Jair Bolsonaro lived, saying that he was rendering visit to the deputy and presidential candidate of the time.
Obtained through a leak, these elements of the investigation are based on the statements of a janitor of the residential complex.
But TV Globo is itself in its reporting of "contradictions": Jair Bolsonaro was not in Rio that day, but in the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia.
- "Quality journalism" -
The murder of Marielle Franco, who was born in a favela denouncing racism, homophobia, police violence and paramilitary militia, had aroused great excitement not only in Brazil but also abroad.
In his video, Jair Bolsonaro - who does not carry the media in his heart and in particular the Globo group - accuses TV Globo of practicing "rotten journalism" and "unscrupulous" to drive him out of power.
"What is the purpose of TV Globo?" stifles the president, "let the people come down to the street to demand my dismissal?"
In a statement, TV Globo denies "having committed the slightest cheat" and deplores that "the president misunderstands the mission of quality journalism and (...) insults those who do nothing but inform the public accurately Brazilian".
The president went further, saying that TV Globo could no longer benefit from "tricks" for the renewal of its broadcasting licenses in 2022.
"Under previous governments, you were running billions of dollars worth of state-owned companies," he exclaimed, referring to institutional advertisements on the channel.
In a statement, TV Globo stressed "never have depended on public money, even if institutional advertising is legal".
- "Destroy the Bolsonaro family" -
Jair Bolsonaro is also furiously attacking Wilson Witzel, governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, with whom a merciless struggle for the upcoming presidential election is already taking place. According to the magazine Veja, the governor played a role in the flight to TV Globo.
"Governor Witzel, today you become an enemy because you want to run in the presidential election of 2022," said the president, who has already announced his intention to represent himself when he came to power only in January.
A few hours later, still in Riyadh, Mr. Bolsonaro said during a press briefing that Wilson Witzel informed him on October 9 that his name was quoted in the report revealed Tuesday by TV Globo.
On Twitter, the governor has opted for moderation, regretting the "untimely" statements of the president, who, during a trip, is "perhaps not in its normal state".
Jair Bolsonaro and his three eldest sons, Flavio, Eduardo and Carlos, all of whom are elected, are regularly battling opponents or former allies and at the heart of virulent polemics. But one of them, Senator Flavio, is under investigation.
"Do you want to see one of my sons convicted?" That would be orgasm for TV Globo? "The head of state said at the end of the video.
© 2019 AFP