The New York Times
May 13, 2004

Reporter's Expulsion Brings Mounting Criticism in Brazil

By WARREN HOGE
 
Brazilian opposition leaders, press associations and legal and judicial groups yesterday protested their government's decision to expel a New York Times correspondent for a report critical of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but Mr. da Silva said he would not consider revoking the action.

Speaking at a breakfast of political party heads allied to his government in Brasília, Mr. da Silva said: "This journalist will not stay in the country," he said. "He will be legally forbidden to enter."

The article, written by Larry Rohter, the Rio de Janeiro bureau chief, and published on Sunday, reported publicly expressed concerns about Mr. da Silva's drinking habits. It said, "Some of his countrymen have begun wondering if their president's predilection for strong drink is affecting his performance in office."

Brazil's Justice Ministry said that Mr. Rohter's banning was justified because the article was "lightweight, lying and offensive to the honor of the president."

Mr. da Silva said that the article represented "a malicious assault on the institution of the presidency."

Roberto Busato, president of Brazil's national bar association, protested that Mr. da Silva was resorting to a repressive press law last used during the 1964-85 military dictatorship. Mr. da Silva's left-leaning government contains many ministers who fought the military rulers. Mr. da Silva himself, then an outspoken labor leader, was imprisoned.

In an open letter to the government, the Foreign Correspondents Association of São Paulo said, "We do not understand how a democratic government that had many of its leaders persecuted and censured can take such an authoritarian decision, especially since it was the foreign press during the years of military regime that was responsible for attracting international attention to denunciations of the dictatorship."

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mr. da Silva's predecessor as president, said at a breakfast meeting of foreign correspondents in São Paulo yesterday that while he found the New York Times article superficial and frivolous, he was surprised and disappointed by the reaction to it. "The expulsion is an overreaction,'' he said. "It goes against democratic principles."

The chorus of denuncations represented an about-face in Brazilian public reaction, which on Monday had been supportive of the scornful response to the article and had even succeeded in uniting feuding political parties behind the increasingly embattled president. In recent months, Mr. da Silva's government has been buffeted by successive crises, and his popularity has tumbled.

His decision to seek Mr. Rohter's expulsion, however, seemed to dispel that momentary rallying to his cause.

Força Sindical, the country's second largest labor union, which on Monday had urged the government to declare Mr. Rohter "persona non grata," issued a statement yesterday condemning the government's effort to throw him out. "The action taken by the government worries us because it is a reaction typical of authoritarian governments that don't like contrary voices," the union's president, Paulo Pereira da Silva, said.

The New York Times said that it believed Mr. Rohter's reporting was accurate and that it would oppose the move to expel him.

"Based on consultations with Brazilian legal counsel, we believe there is no basis for revocation of Mr. Rohter's visa and would take appropriate action to defend his rights," said Catherine J. Mathis, a spokeswoman for the newspaper.

Bill Keller, the executive editor, said on Tuesday that if Brazil "intends to expel a journalist for writing an article that offended the president, that would raise serious questions about Brazil's professed commitment to freedom of expression and a free press."

Brazilian newspapers reported that Brazilian diplomats were working to change Mr. da Silva's mind, but Foreign Minister Celso Amorim declared yesterday that he fully backed the president's action.

Todd Benson contributed reportingfrom São Paolo, Brazil,for this article.