“Very serious and false statements”: Government condemns Bolsonaro’s accusation against Boric and announces presentation of protest note
What “very serious” Y “false” rated the foreign minister, Antonia Urrejola the statements issued on Sunday night by the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro during a televised presidential debate with his contender, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
On the occasion, the Brazilian head of state linked the President Gabriel Boric with the fires that affected some stations of the Santiago Metro, in the framework of the social outbreak of October 18, 2019.
His statements provoked a rejection in the political world. From La Moneda, meanwhile, they condemned his statements and announced the presentation of a note of protest.
“On behalf of the government of Chile, I want to make a statement regarding the statements made by President Bolsonaro of Brazil yesterday in an electoral debate, where he directly accused President Gabriel Boric of having burned the Metro,” the foreign minister began, after participate in the signing to ratify Convention 190 of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
“As a government, it seems to us that these statements are very serious, obviously they are absolutely false.”, he emphasized, and remarked that “We regret that in a electoral context bilateral relations are taken advantage of and polarized through disinformation and false news”.
Given this scenario, the Secretary of State warned that “disinformation and false news, as has been pointed out on other occasions, erode democracy, but also in this case they erode the bilateral relationship”.
“We are absolutely convinced that this is not the way to do politics and, furthermore, it is not the way to do politics when it comes to two democratically elected heads of state, where there is a respectful relationship, beyond the ideological difference”, emphasized the Secretary of State.
Along these lines, he insisted that the accusations against the Chilean President are “absolutely false”, but also pointed out that “they are serious, not only because they accuse President Gabriel Boric and our government of very serious criminal actsare also serious for Chilean men and women, President Gabriel Boric being a President of all Chileans”.
Thus, he called for “we have transversal pronouncements on this matter” and reported that they sent a summons – by the Secretary General of Foreign Policy – to the Brazilian ambassador for this afternoon at the Foreign Ministry building, to deliver a note of protest after what happened.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, however, pointed to the need to “continue strengthening” the relationship with the Brazilian country. “We hope to be able to continue facing the different challenges as brother peoples that we are, beyond these declarations by President Bolsonaro,” she stated.
During the occasion, Urrejola was also asked about the scope of Bolsonaro’s statements in the appointment of Sebastián Depolo as Ambassador of Brazil.
“We have diplomatic relations with Brazil, we have a charge d’affaires in Brazil, we have a bilateral relationship,” the foreign minister said in this regard.
However, he specified that “obviously these statements do not facilitate that relationship, but as I said, there is a historical relationship, we have a common history, a common future, and we are going to continue working on that bilateral relationship, because Brazil is a strategic partner, more beyond those unfortunate statements.”
