RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday, August 6th, that the Provisional Measure he has signed withdrawing the requirement for publicly traded companies to publish financial statements in newspapers was his retribution for some of the attacks he claims to have suffered from the press.
“Yesterday I paid back some of the media that attacked me, I signed a Provisional Measure allowing entrepreneurs, who have spent millions of reais publishing their balance sheets in large circulation newspapers, to publish only in the Federal Gazette, at no cost,” said the president during a speech in Itapira (São Paulo State), where he inaugurated a pharma-chemical plant.
Soon after stating that the decree was retribution for what he termed “attacks” he suffered from the press, being widely applauded by the audience present at the inauguration, however, Bolsonaro said that the provisional measure was not “retaliation”.
“It’s not a retaliation against the press; it’s taking the government out of producing businesses,” he said.
In his speech, Bolsonaro also reiterated that Brazil is “under new leadership” and stated that “it respects the traditional Brazilian family” and is against legalizing drugs.
The president also said he respects institutions, but stressed that he owes allegiance only to the Brazilian people.