A video captured on September 15 by Luís Inácio Lula da Silva’s team went viral literally overnight, and not to the benefit of the PT candidate for Brazil’s presidential election.

In the images, captured and broadcast live on Instagram, in the final moments of a rally in Montes Claros, in the state of Minas Gerais, Lula can be seen, in the midst of a delirious crowd, and when he is suddenly abducted a cell phone. her hand, holding him, that of a father with his daughter in his arms and in the process of trying to take a selfie with the former Brazilian president.

Less than 12 hours later, in the morning, the video had already been shared thousands of times and several newspapers reported the fact. “A man had his cell phone stolen after trying to take a photo with Lula; watch the video”, threw the digital newspaper O Hoje for the title; “This has been a habit and recurring in PT events. It is not surprising”, added to the images the author of one of the publications meanwhile it went viral.

Judging only by the images, it is not strange to think that the cell phone was, in fact, stolen. In the first moments after the device is taken from his hands, the owner looks confused and the daughter also looks scared, while next door a woman shouts something unintelligible and Lula continues his journey with the supporters, who at his Sometimes they cry, they try to kiss him. him and also scream.

But —Diego Paraíso, nothing less than the owner of the cell phone, and the PT candidate’s team has already come to guarantee— none of that happened. “The guy from Lula’s team took my cell phone to take a picture of us in front of my grandmother, who was already in the space where Lula was going to retire, and then he gave me the cell phone back,” explained Diego Paraíso, a resident. from San Francisco, 165 kilometers from Montes Claros, in a video posted the next morning, also via Instagram.

“The Bolsonarist fake news factory has already spread the video throughout Brazil, wanting to associate the theft of the cell phone with Lula (…), but we are here to show the truth, here is the cell phone that was not stolen,” guaranteed the Brazilian, sitting on the sofa at home, with her daughter on her lap. At the end of the video, you can still see one of the photographs that Francisca, his grandmother, took with the former president and current candidate for office, behind the scenes, next to a SAMU ambulance —from the denim shirt he is wearing —. It is the same one that looks in the viral images.

Shortly after, Lula da Silva’s team released a note to the press, assuring that it was all a misunderstanding and also blaming the team of the current president of Brazil for the misinformation: “The photo was taken and the cell phone was returned.” . However, for Bolsonarism, the cut scene, in which the outcome of the movement is not seen, was enough to spread lies and malice against Lula.”

The video that went viral is a small part (it’s 49 seconds, it shows the same scene twice) of the Live broadcast on the night of September 15 on Lula da Silva’s official Instagram channel.

When analyzing the full video, which lasts 5 minutes and 15 seconds, it is not possible to see how Diego Paraíso’s cell phone is returned, but it is clear that, while the PT candidate greets the crowd, several are past devices to the other side of the grid, for the moment to be recorded by Lula da Silva’s staff, who then return them to their respective owners.

Questioned by Estadão, the Civil Police of Montes Claros also assured that they did not record any facts in relation to the case. More: He explained that he analyzed the images circulating on social networks and concluded that the owner of the device in question is Diego Paraíso, named Varlei.

conclusion

It is not true that a cell phone was stolen from the hands of the owner, in the middle of the PT rally and in the presence of Lula da Silva. A member of the Brazilian presidential candidate’s team took the device from the man’s hands, yes, but only to capture the moment in photography. Immediately after, he returned it to me.

Thus, according to the Observer classification, this content is:

WRONG

In the Facebook classification system this content is:

FAKE: The main content claims are factually inaccurate. This option typically matches “false” or “mostly false” ratings on fact-checking websites.

NOTE: This content was curated by The Observer as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.