Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was wrong after claiming that three international companies had decided to close their plants in Argentina to settle in Brazil. After the three companies denied the version, the president had to delete the tweet.
Bolsonaro’s post surprised everyone on the morning of Wednesday 6. True to his style, the Brazilian president used his Twitter account to highlight what seemed good news for the Brazilian economy and that, in passing, left the Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernández in bad shape.
“MWM, an American motor factory, Honda, a car giant and L’Oreal, announced the closure of their factories in Argentina and are moving to Brazil. The new investor confidence comes to generate more jobs and greater economic growth in our country,” he wrote.
What seemed like great news for Bolsonaro and his government, soon turned against him. Quickly, the Argentine media echoed the information and tried to corroborate the facts posted by the Brazilian president with representatives of the corporations mentioned in Argentina.
From Honda, for example, they assured rightwing media “Infobae” that the company “is not closing its plant in Argentina but will maintain its operations as planned, from 2020 concentrating its production on the motorcycle line.”
The same medium includes a statement from L’OrĂ©al in which, although it does not refer directly to the message of Bolsonaro, it assures that the company “produces in Argentina about 40 million units per year in partnership with a local producer” and remarks that “there is no plan to change this, in fact our ambition is to continue increasing local production.”
“Argentina is a strategic market for L’OrĂ©al and the company is committed to accompanying the country’s economic growth,” the company added.
The case of MWM is different. The engine company will effectively not produce more in Argentina, although in fact it had already announced the closure of its plant in September this year. The company is of Brazilian origin and when it confirmed its withdrawal from Argentina, it announced that it would continue to provision the Argentine market from its headquarters in Brazil.
Given the rapid denial of the companies involved, Bolsonaro did not apologize but eliminated the tweet.
Featured image: File photo – Jair Bolsonaro, pulgares arriba, regresa al Planalto./ AFP
Translated by JRE/EF
