Presidential candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo accused the agency Lusa on Monday of publishing a “false and unacceptably inaccurate” news article. Lusa has denied these allegations. What is the matter at stake?
On the morning of Sunday, November 9th, Lusa published an article titled “Presidential Elections: Gouveia e Melo reveals it was Marcelo’s attempt to stop him that led to his candidacy.”
The article quoted an excerpt from the book “Gouveia e Melo – The Reasons,” a lengthy interview conducted by Valentina Marcelino, journalist and deputy director of Diário de Notícias, set to hit the shelves on the 24th of this month.
In the book, the admiral reportedly stated that he decided to run for President after reading an article in Expresso in October 2024: “That article is what defined my path. Because when I read it, I was really upset.”
What did the Expresso article say?
The article that allegedly sparked Gouveia e Melo’s candidacy for President suggested that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa wanted to extend Gouveia e Melo’s term as Chief of the Navy to prevent his presidential run.
The first paragraph of the article, written by journalist Vítor Matos, states: “The President of the Republic liked to extend Admiral Gouveia e Melo’s term for two more years as Chief of the Navy (CEMA) — to prevent a presidential candidacy —, but the officer, who continues to lead the polls for Belém, would only stay in charge of the Navy if the government guaranteed a significant increase in investment in the Portuguese Navy,” Expresso concluded. The newspaper did not cite its source.
Gouveia e Melo calls the news “false”
On Sunday night, in an interview with CNN, the admiral denied the news reported by Lusa, stating that “the quote is wrong.”
“The book will be out soon, and everyone can see pages 124 and 125, where I never say that the main reason for running for President has to do with the current President of the Republic,” he argued, maintaining that “there was surely a misinterpretation of what is written.”
Moreover, the expression “upset,” he said, was used to refer to another situation: “‘I was really upset’ pertains to a statement the President made at my swearing-in,” clarified the candidate for Belém, without specifying which statement this might have been.
On Monday morning, he reinforced this position, in a statement published on his campaign website, stressing that the Lusa news piece “is false,” as the admiral “at no time” indicates that it was the President of the Republic, “or any of his statements, that motivated him to run for President.”
He argued further: “because in politics and journalism not everything goes, we request the publication of this clarification.”
Gouveia e Melo’s campaign further accused the agency of contributing to the “proliferation of a news piece objectively aimed at disinforming and manipulating the statements made by Henrique Gouveia e Melo in the aforementioned book.”
Lusa “rejects and refutes” accusations from Gouveia e Melo
In response, the Information Directorate of Lusa “rejects and refutes” the “accusations that the news in question is false, much less that the agency contributes to misinformation and has manipulated Henrique Gouveia e Melo’s statements, as alleged by the candidacy.”
“As rightly stated in Gouveia e Melo’s candidacy note, ‘not everything goes in politics,'” concluded the Information Directorate in a communiqué titled: “Lusa maintains its news ‘Gouveia e Melo reveals it was Marcelo’s attempt to stop him that led to his candidacy’.”
So, what does Gouveia e Melo say in the interview that will soon be in book form?
The same note on his campaign website shares the four pages of the interview that generated the Lusa news article (and the controversy). Below is the excerpt in question, but the full document can be consulted here: Pre-publication excerpt of the book The Reasons.
[…]
Gouveia e Melo: Sometime in September 2024, I informed the Admiralty Council that I would not be available to continue if my presence was not truly decisive for a change in rearmament and the way the political power viewed the Navy. At that time, I told them that the most likely scenario was that I would leave and that they should prepare themselves, as one of them would be the next CEMA.
The conclusion I reached was that people wanted me to stay but for the worst reasons. The political power, despite the war and all the problems, was not truly interested in changing anything in the Armed Forces or defense – as seems to be still the case, despite much rhetoric. They talk and talk but then do not realize anything. And I became aware of that.
It was during this period that the article in Expresso came out, stating I was blackmailing the Government…
Journalist Valentina Marcelino: Was that the exact moment of your decision to run? A newspaper article?
Gouveia e Melo: It was that article that defined my path. Because when I read it, I was really upset. I don’t know who inspired the title with the word ‘blackmail’ but I didn’t like it. I know Vítor Matos well and spoke many times off the record with him about my plans for defense, but I never mentioned any blackmail. And I never demanded anything from the minister in charge to continue: I thought I had already said and exposed enough for conclusions to be drawn, but I never blackmailed or set conditions.
However, in fact, the Government – and also the President of the Republic – did not seem interested in anything regarding defense, apart from making some salary corrections for the military. Thus, I deduced that what they intended was for me to be tied to the Navy with the possible ‘reward’ of eventually becoming CEMGFA and reaching the top of the military career. They thought, I speculate, that I would be very happy to be given the opportunity.
But those people did not truly know me. Because that is the one thing I would never do: be a prince just to cut ribbons. When they criticize me – and this is curious – they say I am ambitious. I am ambitious about doing things, not about being important. To me, being important means having the power to do things, or it’s useless and a waste of time.
Well, they wanted to give me importance without giving me the power to do anything. Thank you very much. That was when I decided: I will enter the field of real decision-making, politics.
