ChristiaanJ,
The video is from Globo’s late night news on Thursday. The presenter is William Waack, coincidentally a recent PPL. The president’s foreign affairs advisor Garcia and his assistant are filmed while watching Globo’s eight-o’clock news where the thrust reverser MEL is “revealed”. Garcia’s aide’s body language is universal; Garcia’s is local but means the same. Garcia, in an interview shortly thereafter, explains he would never have done that in public; it was just a way of expressing his indignation at all the attempts to pin the crash on the government. He later issued an official apology and little more has been made of it other than in column blogs.
I said it’s an indication of the true nature of the government’s appreciation of the airline industry. Despite the superficial similarities to Britain’s (not so) New Labour, there are still more than pockets of government deeply suspicious of private enterprise and, above all, successful private enterprise. Like TAM. In the Gol/Legacy collision it was easy to let the multitude of players loose on the most convenient scapegoat, the Legacy pilots, and weather out the ATC storm while negotiating internally with the airforce over ATC. This time it’s all home-based, foot-dragging on infrastructure vs airline rapaciousness.
Throughout the post-Gol crisis the airlines have been remarkably passive or, if you will, very low-key reactive. There’s been no overt pressure on the government at all and ramarkably little in the way of a collective attempt to influence public opinion. But the “authorities” and, to a great extent the press, have bashed them about as being only profit-motivated at the expense of passengers; emphasis on flight cancellations and overbooking; anything that reflects badly on the carriers is good for government spin. Economy Minister saying “there’s no crisis, just a reflection of a growing economy”; Tourism Minister with “relax and enjoy it” in a very clear connotation of how to deal with rape. Mr Garcia’s gestures just rub the salt in, so to speak.
I realize this jaundiced rant adds nothing to the factual discussion of what happened on 17 July. What galls me is the patent attempt by "authorities" to evade any hint of involvement. It's difficult to be a neutral bystander.