It is false that former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) was received by musicians chanting “son of a bitch” on his arrival at Sciences Po, a public higher education institution in Paris, on November 16, during his last trip to the French capital.
A video that went viral on Facebook and was verified by Projeto Comprova had the audio tampered with, with the cursing included. The original recording, without editing, was posted by Lula’s official profile that same day, and it is possible to see that the percussion group does not sing the expression “son of a bitch”.
“It’s fake news. We’re saying ‘C’est la Batuka’, which means ‘It’s Batuka,'” the musical group told the report.
The former president’s press office also classified the content as a lie. In a statement, he said that “political groups that use fake news against Lula have produced a lie with an expression of affection from Brazilian and French youths in Paris.”
Also contacted, the author of the video, Luan Amâncio, stated that he could be wrong and, after receiving the explanation about the true audio, he deleted the video from his channels.
Comprova classified the content as false because it was edited to change its original meaning and was deliberately released to spread a lie.
How do we check?
The first step was to find out if Lula had posted the video on his social networks. By doing a search filtering on the former president’s profile and the name “Sciences Po” on TweetDeck, I was able to find the post. This was the first indication that the video verified here contained disinformation – if he had really been offended, Lula would hardly have shared the recording.
The comments from followers helped in the investigation. One of them writes that he cannot understand what the musicians are chanting, and another responds: “De la Batuka, is the name of the group”.
Searching on Google for the name “La Batuka”, the results bring a tweet from Science Po’s official profile about Lula’s reception by the students who form the Batuka group.
Searching for Batuka on social media, it was possible to reach the musicians’ Instagram. Then, the reporter sent a private message asking what they sang at the PT’s reception.
Lula’s advisors were also sought out and, in a text message, denied that the former president had been harassed.
Then, the report contacted Luan Amâncio, author of the video, via a private message on Facebook and also via Instagram. The Brazilian People’s Movement on Facebook group, which shared the fake recording, was contacted by email, but did not respond until this text was published.
Finally, searches were carried out in traditional media vehicles to clarify how Lula’s visit to European countries was.
Verification
The video
In November, Lula toured European countries. On the 16th of that month, when he arrived in Paris, he went to the Sciences Po school of political science, where he received the title of honoris causa ten years ago, to deliver the conference “What place for Brazil in the world of tomorrow”.
The video verified here shows the reception given by students of the institution who participate in the Batuka percussion group. In a lobby, young people play tambourines, drums and other musical instruments. Most of them are masked against Covid-19. In the center, a woman organizes the drumming with a whistle.
Lula, who was passing through a common area of the teaching institution’s building, was led by a member of the delegation to the place where the young people were performing, informed that it was a batucada group from the French city.
The former president remained watching the presentation for a few moments, and then withdrew, without showing any annoyance as could be expected in the case of name calling. The PT member was accompanied by dozens of people, including sociologist Rosângela da Silva, and Janja, his girlfriend.
In the video with distorted audio, subtitles were created to justify an alleged unsuccessful reception, first drawing attention to the batucada group, so that, when the percussionists shout “C’est la Batuka”, it sounded like “Daughter of bitch”, in the rhythm of the music.
The curse was reproduced in the caption, followed by “kkkkk”, to characterize a laugh. Subsequently, the author wrote that Lula withdrew, disappointed.
Lula in Europe
Lula’s visit to Sciences Po was just one stage of his visit to Paris, France, and other European countries. In all the cities where he traveled to fulfill political agendas, the former president was well received.
The first stop was in Germany, where the PT member disembarked on November 11, when he met with union leaders. The next day, he met with Social Democrat Olaf Scholz who, at the time, had not yet been led as prime minister to succeed Angela Merkel.
In Brussels, capital of Belgium, Lula arrived on November 14 and the first meeting, with the right to a photo, was with supporters. On the 15th, one of the highlights of the tour through Europe was the speech at the European Parliament. The former president received a standing ovation by MEPs after, among other statements, saying that Brazil has a way and that it is possible to build a fair economy.
From Belgium, the PT left for France where, on the 16th, he met the mayor of Paris, socialist Anne Hidalgo. It was on that same date that the former president was at Sciences Po.
The other day, Lula was received by President Emmanuel Macron in a meeting that lasted more than an hour at the Élysée Palace, in Paris, and whose agenda was geopolitics. Since the Frenchman’s election in 2017, he has not received a Brazilian president — not Jair Bolsonaro (PL), with whom he has already fallen out, nor Michel Temer (MDB).
On the same day, Lula was awarded the prize for “political courage” granted by the Political International magazine, an honor given only three other times in 40 years of publication to two former presidents, Anuar Sadat (Egypt) and Frederik de Klerk (Africa do South), and to Pope John Paul II.
On November 19, already in Madrid, the PT met with the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez.
It was in the Spanish capital that Lula ended his tour of Europe. Analysis of data on social networks shows that the ex-president’s trip was approved by 80% of non-militant public opinion.
Intent to vote surveys
Author of the video with fake content, Luan Amâncio begins the recording saying that “it seems that the research institutes, once again, are wrong”, referring to the fact that President Bolsonaro appears behind Lula in the latest electoral polls.
A survey by Genial/Quaest released on November 10 shows the PT member with 48% of voting intentions and Bolsonaro with 21%.
In September, Lula had 44% of the votes against 26% for Bolsonaro, as revealed by Datafolha.
The author of the video
On his YouTube channel, where he calls those who consider himself “patriotic and conservative” to subscribe, Luan Amâncio has 289,000 followers. On Facebook, the network where it shares the same videos, there are 211.4 thousand followers. In this network, he presents himself as a “journalist” and as a “lawyer, creator of Youtube content and resident of Curitiba”.
The videos are mostly in support of Bolsonaro and against Lula. One of them was the target of a check by Estadão Veri, in June of this year. At the time, Amâncio removed from context an excerpt of a documentary saying that it was a “leak meeting” of the PT’s summit.
The report contacted him via Instagram, asking him about the tampered video. “It could be, then, that I’m really wrong,” said he, who deleted the publication after the exchange of messages.
Why do we investigate?
In its fourth phase, the Comprova Project investigates suspicious content about the pandemic, federal government and elections. The post verified here has been viewed over 125,000 times on Facebook as of December 10th.
By releasing a video with altered audio, the content creates the false impression that Lula would have been poorly received at the institution that invited him, when, in fact, it was the opposite. Any citizen has the right to support any politician he wants, but it is dangerous for democracy when opinion is formed on the basis of false content, like this one verified here.
Content also becomes dangerous when criticizing research institutes, an important tool for society in pre-election periods.
The same video was verified by Lupa and AFP Check.
Comprova has already concluded that it is false that the Washington Post has published a headline praising Bolsonaro, that players from European teams have dedicated goals to him and that Atlético Mineiro fans have cursed Lula in a recent match.
False, for Comprova, is content that has been invented or has been edited to change its original meaning and deliberately disclosed to spread a lie.
Comprova performed this verification based on information available on December 10th of 2021.
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