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10 June 2014

Urgent Point of Clarification

In a recent article published in the German weekly Der Speigel I was quoted as saying “Auf dem Weg zum Flughafen müssen die Engländer durch einen Tunnel, und den wollen die Demonstranten blockieren. Wenn uns das gelingt, wäre es historisch", “On the way to the Airport the English team must pass a tunnel and that tunnel the demonstrators want to block. If we succeed, it would be historic,"
The article link is here: 
http://phimat.com/spiegel/print/d-126954533.html

This quote does not accurately reflect my views. While I did identify that there are many logistical problems the English Team will face in Rio, at no time did I suggest that I, or the Comitê Popular Rio, have any intention of disrupting the logistics of the World Cup. While it is true that it would be historical if this were to happen, the implication of the quote is that I myself am organizing to disrupt the World Cup. This absolutely does not reflect my intentions or desires nor those of the Comitê.

I would also like to clarify a description of myself that aired on HBO´s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. At the beginning of the show I was described as a “leader of the protest movement”. This is also inaccurate. I have been a member of the Comitê Popular da Copa since its inception and was one of the leaders of the Associação Nacional dos Torcedores, now defunct. The Comitê Popular does not have leaders as such, functioning within a horizontal, collaborative and consensual framework.


I will be hosting a press conference at the headquarters of the Association of Foreign Correspondents in Rio de Janeiro this Friday, June 13 at 9am (Rua Senador Dantas, 105 - 22 andar - Centro - CEP 20031-201). I will be discussing the research I have been conducting on the World Cup over the last five years.

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