'Drinking' journo loses visa

2004-05-12 13:43

Brasilia - Brazil's Justice Ministry cancelled the visa of a New York Times reporter on Tuesday who wrote an article alleging President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had a drinking problem.

The ministry said it was cancelling the visa of Larry Rohter because the article he wrote "offended the honour of the president."

The lengthy article in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, entitled "Brazilian leader's tippling becomes national concern," brought swift denunciations from the president's staff.

On Monday, several major dailies splashed news of the story on their front page.

Speaking to reporters shortly before the announcement about the visa cancellation, Silva said, "the article does not deserve a response but rather an action" - but gave no hint that the justice ministry was about to revoke Rohter's visa.

"The Brazilian government should take a decision the law permits it to take, but I won't comment on it. It's up to the ministry of justice," Silva said.

In the article, Rohter summed up a series of rumours that had long been circulating among journalists in the nation's capital and cited a former ally-turned enemy of Silva and two newspaper columnists to support the thesis that the president's drinking had become a national concern.

Silva has never hid his affection for alcohol, occasionally appearing with a glass of beer or whiskey in hand, but he has never been known to appear drunken in public.

"Superficial, dishonest and offensive"

The New York Times article caused an outcry in Brazil and brought together politicians across the political spectrum in their denunciation of the report that many found biased and thinly sourced.

Officials from the justice ministry declined to comment, referring reporters to the statement on the website.

"In light of the report that is superficial, dishonest and offensive to the honour of the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil, with serious damage to the image of the country abroad, published in the May 9th edition of the newspaper The New York Times, the Justice Ministry considers ... inconvenient the presence in national territory of the author of the cited text," read the statement on the justice ministry's website.

"Under these conditions, it has been determined the cancellation of the temporary visa of Mr William Larry Rohter Junior," the statement continued.

No one could be reached at the New York Times office in Rio and New York to comment on the situation.

Rohter's whereabouts were not immediately known; his office had earlier said he was out of the country.

It was not immediately clear whether Rohter, who is married to a Brazilian, would be kept from re-entering Brazil if he was outside the country.

On Monday, The New York Times published a letter from Brazilian Ambassador Roberto Abdenur responding with "perplexity and indignation" to the article.

- AP