Gouveia e Melo says that Lusa lied. Agency publishes the news again, without changes

Candidate assures that he never said that he decided to move to Belém because of Marcelo – it’s just that the same article talked about another subject.

The confusion began on Sunday, when the Lusa agency published excerpts from the book.

The most popular excerpt would allegedly be about Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. According to the agency, Gouveia e Melo just decided to move forward to Belém when he read what the current president wanted to stop his candidacy for President of the Republic – through his reappointment as Chief of the General Staff of the Navy.

“It was this article that made me define the course. Because when I read it, I was really mad”, Lusa.

Hours later, Gouveia e Melo corrected it. He said that what was published was not exactly what he said: “The quote is wrong. The book will be out soon and everyone can see pages 124 and 125, in which I never say that the main reason for running for President has to do with the current President of the Republic”.

This Monday, Gouveia e Melo’s candidacy went further, writing that the news from Lusa “is false and sick with a unacceptable lack of rigorwhich is why it is necessary to restore the truth of the facts”.

The note sent to the newsrooms reinforces that the candidate does not mention, at any time, during the interview as having been the President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, or any of his statements, the motivation for running for the Presidency of the Republic, as can be easily proven on pages 123, 124 and 125 of the aforementioned book”.

The same statement presents the real reason of the candidacy: “It was realizing that the President of the Republic and the Government were not truly interested in anything related to defense and, therefore, he would not have the opportunity to make a difference as chief of the Navy’s General Staff.”

In other words, those responsible for Gouveia and Melo’s candidacy do not reject that it was the article that motivated their candidacy – but this same article also focused on the little investment in the Navy by the Government. And, they claim, it was this issue (which is in the same article) that motivated him. Hence the phrase “It was this article that made me define the direction”.

Lusa version

But the agency Lusa assures that she did not lie or distorted.

In a title entitled “Lusa maintains its news: “Gouveia e Melo reveals that it was Marcelo’s attempt to stop him that led him to apply”, the agency’s information department rejects and repudiates the “accusations that the news in question is false and, much less, that the agency contributes to misinformation and has manipulated statements by Henrique Gouveia e Melo, as stated in the application”.

According to Lusa officials, Gouveia e Melo “expressly says that it was an article published in Expressoon October 3, 2024 (…) that led him to “set the course”that is, advance the candidacy”.

The agency “complyed with all ethical rules” and wrote the information “contained in the book itself, interpreting it honestly and rigorously”.

The statement mentions that “as Gouveia e Melo’s candidacy says in his note, “In politics, everything cannot go“.

At the end of the statement, the Lusa publishes the news again concerned. “For the sake of transparency.”

However, also this Monday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa guaranteed that he has relationships “with everyone” and that he does not have “undermined relationships with anyone”.

The book in question arrives in bookstores in two days, next Thursday.