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News > Latin America

Brazilians Respond to Destabilization Plans with #GloboGolpista

  • President Dilma Rousseff is facing fierce attacks by the opposition.

    President Dilma Rousseff is facing fierce attacks by the opposition. | Photo: Reuters

Published 12 March 2015
Opinion

The biggest media group in the country has been involved in efforts to impeach President Dilma Rousseff.

Brazilians took to social media Thursday to criticize the role that the Globo media empire is playing against President Dilma Rousseff.

The hashtag #GloboGolpista, meaning Globo Coup-backer, has been trending throughout the country, as the graph below shows.

The media group has come under widespread criticism due to recent coverage trying to link President Rousseff to an ongoing corruption scandal in the state-owned Petrobras oil company.

The issue has been used by certain sectors of the opposition to call for an impeachment process against the president.

Demonstrations for and against the government have been called for March 13 and 15.

Under the official banner “Political trial now,” the most radical members of the opposition will march Sunday.

Unofficially, the opposition supporters have dubbed the march as “RIP Dilma,” in a clear bid to end her government.

Dilma Rousseff was elected to a second term as president of Latin America's biggest country last November with 51.64 percent of the vote.

RELATED: Dilma Rousseff: Four More Years

Erick Bretas, one of Globo's directors, has caused controversy by publicly announcing he will attend Sunday's opposition-led march.

The TV network has made several changes to attract more people to the demonstration, like changing the time for the transmission of a football match, and transmitting the whole demonstration live, in an extraordinary schedule.

Another key actor in Brazilian politics and Brazil’s richest person, businessman Jorge Paulo Lemann, has also pitched in to organize Sunday's protest. The mogul paid for a series of websites and initiatives to promote the march.

The governing Workers Party (PT), along with some of the biggest social movements in the country – such as the Movement of Landless Campesinos (MST) and the Workers Central Union (CUT) – consider the opposition efforts an ongoing attempt to oust President Rousseff.

Globo owns the largest newspaper and the biggest TV and radio networks in the country. The media group has been harshly criticized for its links and active collaboration with Brazil's right-wing military dictatorship (1964-1985), which killed thousands of people.

Many used tweets to alert the public on the possibility of a return to a dictatorship, with phrases such as “#GloboGolpista Dictatorship never again.”

Others are using social media to remind Brazilians of how Globo was involved in the 1954 coup against President Getulio Vargas; how it supported the 1964 coup aginst Joao Goulart; and how it opposed the election of the nation’s most recent leaders, left-wing cadidates Lula in 1989, and Dilma in 2015.

Other users responded by confirming their participation in tomorrow’s demonstrations in support of the government, which will take place throughout the country. “We will give our firm response to the coup-mongers” reads the tweet below:

Globo has played a crucial role in different election campaigns; it has openly taken sides with right-wing candidates, as the video below shows.

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4
Comments
This is NOT what's happening in Brazil right now. This is so twisted! I agree with Fred, please, check your sources. This is NOT the truth.
This is so far from the truth that makes me sick. Please check your sources.
If this gets to out of control she can always blame the USA that always works in south american countries
O Brasil não aceita retrocesso!GLOBO GOLPISTA domingo estara com sua programação inteiramente dedicada a Marcha dos golpistas!#GloboGolpista
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