The  Brazilian physicist Patrícia Camargo Magalhães, who was deported from Spain during a flight connection to Lisbon, where she would attend a scientific congress, was invited to a public hearing of the Committee on External Relations and National  Defense. The hearing is destined to discuss mistreatments suffered by Brazilian citizens in foreign countries and was proposed by senator Eduardo Suplicy (PT-SP).

Suplicy’s first suggestion was that only Brazilian officials, as ambassador Oto Agripino Maia, under-secretary-general for  Brazilian External Communities of the Ministry of External Relations, would participate in the hearing. The committee’s president, senator Heráclito Fortes (DEM-PI), suggested Patrícia’s presence, so that she could personally tell the senators what  happened to her in Spain.

Patrícia, who is preparing for a master degree in Physics at the University of São Paulo (USP), embarked to Madrid on February 9. From there, she  intended to do a fast connection to Lisbon, where she would present a work in a scientific congress. But she was detained for three days in precarious conditions at Madrid Airport, under allegations that she was not carrying the necessary documents to  prove the reasons of her trip.

Suplicy's request received the support of senators Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB-MG) and Cristovam Buarque (PDT-DF). Cristovam also asked for support to his proposal of a Constitutional Amendment  (PEC 5/05) that guarantees to Brazilians residing in foreign countries the right to have their own representatives at the Chamber of Deputies.

At the meeting, Suplicy also presented a request to invite the Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba to talk about the negotiations to release hostages detained by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). The request will be voted in the next meeting of the committee.