The Association of the National IBGE Workers Union (ASSIBGE-SN) spoke out about the new version of the Mapa Mapa launched by the institute last Wednesday (7).
According to a publication on social networks, the initiative, instead of informing and representing reality, distorts and creates a “symbolic staging that compromises the credibility built over decades of serious, impartial and globally respected work.”
Also according to the union association, the country faces social problems, such as structural inequality, educational lack, insecurity, loss of competitiveness and, stating that these problems cannot be fought with “graphic illusions”.
The group also criticized the management of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), claiming that “instead of protecting the civil service of the institute, it has insisted on pushing it into the field of image, allegory, promotional action.”
ASSIBGE-SN is responsible for the rights and interests of IBGE employees. The repudiation note was published by the association’s Chilean nucleus, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Check out the full note:
Manifest by the technical integrity of IBGE
In defense of science, institutional reason and real Brazil
The coordination of the Chile-ASSIBGE/SN union nucleus that represents the workers of the base of the Chile/Horto Complex of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), expresses, based on constitutional, technical and ethical commitment, repudiation for the official dissemination of the inverted world map, in which Brazil appears artificially at the top and the center of the world-a gesture without technical support by international cartographic conventions.
It is an initiative that, instead of informing, distorts; Instead of representing reality with rigor, it creates a symbolic staging that compromises the credibility built by IBGE over decades of serious, impartial and respected globally.
What is sold as a symbol of national self -esteem hides an uncomfortable paradox. Brazil still faces serious social ills: structural inequality, educational needs, insecurity, informality, loss of competitiveness.
The Presidency of the Republic, with the recognized courage and sense of responsibility that its trajectory proves, has faced these realities of open chest, without disguise, promoting institutional reconstruction, social investment and rescue of public dignity.
But does not fight reality with graphic illusions. Putting Brazil in the center of the map doesn’t solve anything – and can even weaken the seriousness of a national project that just seeks to face, not hide, the challenges we have ahead.
This is not an isolated case. In January 2025, the Brazil publication in numbers 2024 – one of the most traditional of IBGE – was launched with a preface signed by the governor of Pernambuco, Raquel Lyra, extolling regional achievements in a historically technical and impersonal document.
Servers warned of the institutional deviation. The justification of management – that there would be financial support involved – was publicly denied by mentioned entities, such as Sudene.
This episode revealed the same pattern of conduct present in the adoption of the inverted map: political, symbolic and personalistic use of a technical organ.
Responsibility for these deviations falls entirely on the current IBGE management, which, instead of protecting the institute’s civil service, has insisted on pushing it into the field of image, allegory, promotional action.
There is no technical, legal or pedagogical excuse for this type of practice.
No country becomes more respected to be at the center of a paper. The international greatness is achieved with consistent public policies, reliable institutions and transparent data – not with visual staging.
Machado de Assis accurately described the addiction of opinion before he was. To display the shape in place of the content. To seek in aesthetics the glory that only reality could justify.
To transform the state’s official cartography into a gesture of symbolic vanity is to offer the population an illustrated consolation, when what it needs is true, responsibility and seriousness.
In addition to the ethical problem, recent acts violate three constitutional principles of public administration:
* Administrative purpose – IBGE exists to produce technical and objective information, not symbolic or political material;
* Impersonality – The institution serves society, not narratives of rulers or management;
* Administrative morality – public resources must be used with integrity and respect for state function.
The principle of efficiency is also hurt, as the adoption of unrecognized graphic patterns confuses education, impairs international comparisons and delegitimates official products.
IBGE’s current management has repeatedly failing to protect the agency’s technical and institutional integrity.
IBGE does not belong to people. It belongs to the state, society and the future.
Brazil does not need to be at the center of the paper. It needs to be at the center of technical honesty, public responsibility and commitment to the truth.
So we say, with firm serenity: not to the map of vanity. Yes to science, integrity and institutional maturity.
Coordination of the Chile
New Map
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) has launched a new version of the Mapa Map: Inverted and with Brazil in the Center. The image of the map was published by IBGE President Marcio Pochmann on social networks last Wednesday (7).
“IBGE has launched a new world map with Brazil in the center, containing the south at the top of the map, also identified by inverted map,” Pochmann said in a X-publication (former Twitter).
According to him, “the news seeks to emphasize Brazil’s current leadership position in important international forums such as BRICS and MERCOSUR and in the realization of COP 30 in the year 2025”.
A and will be headquartered by the capital of Pará, Belém.
Still in 2024, the institute had announced one, which generated controversy on social networks.
(With information from Laura Molfese, from CNN)
