President Lula (PT) claimed to have asked Minister Paulo Pimenta from Secom (Department of Social Communication) for the government to create an international TV channel to showcase the country to the world. "I fight with Pimenta because I think that a country the size of Brazil has to have an international TV station", he said, during a live broadcast this Tuesday (1st).
The PT member said that he travels the world and does not see a single piece of news about Brazil on foreign broadcasters. "If you want to watch news from Brazil, you have to watch it on TeleSUR, which is the Venezuelan channel." Telesur is a South American multi-state broadcaster financed by left-wing governments in Latin America.
The president stated that a country of continental dimensions like Brazil needs to show all its diversity. He mentioned the Pantanal and the beaches of the Northeast, among other natural beauties. Lula said that in his previous mandates he had already tried to create an international channel, but that it did not work out and that recently, after his return to the the Presidential Palace, he tried to sign an agreement with Portugal, but the proposal did not move forward.
"But I think that, now, comrade Pimenta will make a special effort and, God willing, we will have a TV channel to show the face of Brazil", stated the president. "It's not to show political debate, it's not to show the government, it's not to show Congress. It's simply to show Brazil. Show Brazil as it is."
Translated by Cassy Dias