Official note
Flamengo Regatta Club's position regarding Mr. Fausto Silva's speech - Rede Globo de Televisão
By Communication - Flamengo - inOn the evening of last Sunday (9/02), during the program Domingão do Faustão, on Rede Globo de Televisão, the presenter Fausto Silva accused, in a frivolous and inconsequential way, the directors (past and current) of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo of acting disrespectfully in negotiations with the families of the victims of the fire at Ninho do Urubu.
Showing his complete lack of knowledge about the case, the Rede Globo presenter, under the pretext of supporting a possible fan demonstration - now cancelled - unleashed a series of unfounded accusations that, in addition to attacking the honor of the directors, also ended up damaging the image of the Flamengo institution.
Presenter Fausto Silva is unaware of, or chose to omit, all the work that Flamengo has done to minimize the effects of what was the Club's biggest tragedy in its 124 years of existence:
- He didn't say that 19 and a half families, of the 26 affected by the tragedy, have already reached an agreement regarding compensation.
- That Flamengo, from the very beginning of the tragedy, brought the families of all the victims to Rio de Janeiro and put them up in a hotel so they could closely monitor the investigations by the competent authorities. The same happened with the families residing in Rio de Janeiro.
- That, on its own initiative, the Club had been paying a monthly allowance of R$2019 since February 5, six times the average salary received by athletes. Since the end of last year, the amount paid by the club has increased to R$10.
- That, from the very beginning, Flamengo provides medical, educational, psychological and social assistance to victims and their families.
- That Flamengo offered all the families an amount many times higher than what the Brazilian courts usually determine in cases like this.
- That the Club does maintain contact with the families, including through the lawyers appointed by them to represent them.
All of these points could have easily been raised by Rede Globo de Televisão's production team before the accusations were made. Because this was not done, it unfortunately leads us to believe that such aggressiveness is based on unmet commercial interests that override the responsibility of accurately informing viewers.
This, in our view, constitutes an abuse of rights and an attempt to negatively influence public opinion, something unacceptable from a moral and ethical point of view.
Finally, Flamengo reiterates that it has always been - and continues to be - entirely available to the families for dialogue and will continue to do so until all are fairly compensated.