Political figures grumble about state resources being used for pre-election campaign
The latest edition of the ‘Revista da Armada’ (Naval Magazine) is causing great upset in political circles as it has outgoing Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Gouveia e Melo, on the back cover, arm-in-arm with King João II – the king who went down in history as ‘the Perfect Prince’.
The message is loud and clear: the Perfect Prince and Gouveia e Melo would be on the same page (were they not separated by hundreds of years).
And the edition itself is essentially “devoted to a positive assessment of Admiral Gouveia e Melo’s three years in office”, writes Observador.
Why is this irritating political figures, to the extent that a number of them have taken to social network ‘X’? Because, as SIC Notícias points out, everyone ‘knows’ that Henrique Gouveia e Melo intends to run for Belém in March next year – and a lot of people wish that wasn’t the case, not only because he is NOT a political crony/ choice, but because he is very likely to win…
And so the ‘outrage’ that a Naval Magazine could have the audacity to praise an outgoing Chief of Staff and all that he has achieved: because of what he may go on to do in the not so distant future.
From left to liberal, comments have been withering.
As Observador remarks, the last time a Chief of Staff left the position, there was no personalised back page illustration. (It could be that Gouveia e Melo’s predecessor did not ‘achieve’ quite so much: the last three years have seen extraordinary advances in terms of technology, and indeed drug-trafficking enforcement, and this is undoubtedly why the magazine sought to commemorate their outgoing chief, with the headline: “Three years of Transformation”.)
It is also very possible that Gouveia e Melo is aware of the reluctance of the political establishment to warm to his idea to run for the presidency – but it has been stressed that he had nothing to do with this ‘controversial’ edition of the Revista da Marinha.
Thus, we can only watch, and enjoy the theatre (or not, depending on political affiliations).
Observador says it has spoken with a ‘source inside the Navy’ (who naturally has not wanted to be identified) but who also sees this December edition of the Navy’s magazine as ‘clearly propagandist’: “Inside (the Navy?) it is well known that many things aren’t covered – there are significant omissions”, the source confided.
As for the Admiral, he is staying schtum.
