By Maira Magro
While in a boat covering former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s vacation in the coastal city of Guarujá, two reporters for Folha de S. Paulo newspaper were stopped by a government-run security team and had their equipment confiscated, Folha reports.
According to Folha, Moacyr Lopes Junior had her camera and photography gear taken, and Fernando Gallo lost his cell phone. The reporters had rented a boat and were taking photos of a beach frequented by Lula near the Andradas Fort, a military base on the coast of São Paulo. The ex-president’s security told the journalists that they were trespassing in a restricted Naval zone and then escorted the boat out of the area.
Government representatives told Portal Imprensa that Lula had the right to have an official security team. According to Estadão, however, Folha’s legal team said the actions were arbitrary and violated press freedom.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
