Journalist Lucio Flavio Pinto, an experienced reporter who covers the Amazon since the 1970s, was attacked this Friday by Romulo Mairana Jr., the owner of O Liberal newspaper and of a Rede Globo retransmitter in Belém, Pará. Mairana had the help of two security guards, hired from the State police. Pinto pressed charges at the local police station against Mairana for aggression. <br />
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Two days before the attack, Pinto had published a three-page story on the Maiorana family communications businesses in his newsletter, Jornal Pessoal. With an ironic tone, the story was titled “O Rei da Quitanda” (“the king of the grocery store”). The story described Pará State as a place “deprived of information, opinion and point of view” and O Liberal group as “more powerful than the State where it acts”. “More than a title, that’s an epitaph: what gives the group strength is what weakens Pará”, wrote Pinto.<br />
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The aggression took place at the Parque da Residência restaurant, in Belém, where Pinto has lunch every Friday with friends. Mairana sat on a table just behind him. There was no reference to the article when Mairana delivered the first punch. Pinto said he was grabbed by the neck of his shirt, thrown to the floor and repeatedly kicked by the guards and Mairana. <br />
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According to the journalist, the entrepreneur threatened to kill him to avoid further articles about his businesses. “If I don’t kill you now, I’ll kill you later”, said Mairana, according to Pinto. There were around 80 people in the restaurant, but no one reacted. Pinto called the police, which came 20 minutes later, when Mairana was not there anymore.<br />
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Pinto pressed charges against him for aggression.<br />
