Flávio Dino did not exempt the government from fighting illegal weapons, contrary to what is said on social media – 03/23/2023 – Politics

Publications on social networks that decontextualize an interview with the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, to claim that he would have exempted the federal government from the responsibility of combating the armament of drug traffickers are misleading.

In the shared video, verified by the Comprova Project, the minister says: “‘But what about the traffickers’ weapons?’ come to us.” In one of the posts, a caption is added stating that Dino said that legal weapons are the responsibility of the government, but illegal ones are not.

When he made the statement that went viral, Dino was speaking to the Correio Braziliense newspaper about the re-registration of weapons — a measure adopted in his administration and which has been underway in the country since February. On the occasion, the minister was referring to questions that supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) usually ask on their social networks. This excerpt was omitted from the disinformation piece.

In the original, longer video, published by the communication vehicle on YouTube, the minister argues that these questions should be addressed to the Bolsonaro government, and not to the Lula government. According to Dino, the previous administration did not fight the gun problem in recent years, as the changes made to the legislation facilitated access to weapons and ammunition, increasing the number of weapons in the hands of criminals.

Dino argues that the measure to re-register weapons will enable the government to track people who bought restricted-use parts that are no longer in their possession. Based on this data, the minister advances, actions will be organized to recover the objects, that is, he makes it clear that the government intends to act to seize illegal weapons.

Misleading, for Comprova, is content removed from the original context and used in another so that its meaning changes.

Reach

Comprova investigates suspicious content with greater reach on social networks. The video cut had thousands of shares across different platforms and was amplified by accounts that have high engagement.

On former president Bolsonaro’s Facebook, for example, the images were viewed 83,000 times and received 14,400 interactions, including comments and reactions. On his Twitter, there were over 27,700 likes, 461 comments and 5,400 retweets. On the same platform, but on the page of federal deputy Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ), there were over 9,800 interactions and 120,300 views. On the parliamentarian’s Instagram, the video had 133,000 views and 15,900 likes. The numbers were extracted from the platforms by Comprova on March 22.

What the person responsible for the publication says

Comprova sought out the press offices of deputy Carlos Jordy and Jair Bolsonaro, but there was no response. Allan Frutuozo, whose Twitter handle (@AllanFrutuozo) appears as a watermark on the images of the shared video, was also contacted, but did not send a position until the publication of this check.

How do we check

From the video shared on social networks, reverse image searches were performed using the InVid tool, in an attempt to find the original video. Unsuccessful, we set off in search of clues. We listed possible contexts for the minister’s speech, read comments on checked posts and observed recent publications on the account of Flavio Dino on Twitter. There have been no significant advances.

Based on the scenario, we assumed it was a press conference (when an official speaks to journalists) and we searched for keywords related to the subject, such as “Flávio + Dino + collective”, on Google Videos. We started looking, among the results, for elements similar to those existing in the analyzed video, such as: the position of the minister (who appears seated), the window behind him and details of clothing, such as a white shirt and striped red tie.

So, scrolling down the page and comparing the videos, we found the original version, published by the newspaper Correio Braziliense on YouTube. In addition to the compatible setting and clothing, the subject was related to what was addressed in the analyzed video. With the link found, we checked the transcription of the video and found, at 7 minutes and 33 seconds, the viral excerpt.

Finally, we contacted the press office of the Ministry of Justice.

interview clipping

The video circulating on social networks is a clipping of an exclusive interview given by the minister to Correio Braziliense, published in excerpts on YouTube, on February 26. In it, Dino talks about the reregistration of weapons, determined by the federal government and started on February 1st. As he says, the measure was necessary for the organization of the register due to the high indications of fraud and registration inconsistencies.

Throughout the interview, of just over 9 minutes, he criticizes the sudden increase in registrations for CACs (collectors, sport shooters and hunters) in recent years. For the minister, the purchase of weapons through this modality was the way found for access to them by people who could not issue the license by common means. He defended that the government’s problem is not with the true CACs, but with fraudsters, even mentioning that these sell arms and ammunition to organized crime.

In fact, there are records of occurrences of this nature. In January 2022, Estadão reported the seizure of an arsenal in the north of Rio de Janeiro, which would be from a collector who would be supplying weapons to criminals, mainly linked to the Red Command, according to investigations. In June of the same year, the Sheet reported that, during operations to combat organized crime on public transport, the Civil Police of São Paulo seized rifles and submachine guns at addresses allegedly linked to the PCC. All weapons were legally registered in the name of CACs. In July, the same newspaper reported that a member of the PCC obtained a CAC registration certificate with the Brazilian Army, despite having a record with 16 criminal cases.

According to the minister, the re-registration is being carried out so that weapons for restricted use are physically presented to the Federal Police. “It has become a way of life for many people. Gangs selling false registrations and weapons have already been dismantled. The idea is to distinguish the true CAC, which will continue to exist, from criminals who do not want the review”, he declared.

Operations

From 6 minutes and 2 seconds, the minister starts talking about the subject that has gone viral on social networks, but which has been taken out of context. For Dino, the number of people interested in re-registering would rise in the final stretch, which actually happened, since the folder reached, on March 20, the goal of re-registering more than 80% of private weapons in the country. Of a total of 762,365 weapons registered in the Military Weapons Management System (Sigma) maintained by the Army, 613,834 had been re-registered to date. The deadline ends on April 3.

When dealing with the subject, he points out that it is impossible to achieve 100% re-registration, because weapons that are illegal will not appear in the census and points out that, based on the scenario found, it will be possible to devise strategies for apprehending this portion of pieces. “You will have, for the first time in years, a real picture of what armamentism is in Brazil and you will know, look, these weapons are legal, people meet the requirements, and therefore all these others here are illegal, and of course you needs to start the seizure operations”, he pointed out.

At 7 minutes and 31 seconds, the minister comments that Bolsonaro supporters aligned with the extreme right often question him, on his social networks, about illegal weapons. It is at this moment that Dino makes the statement that has been shared separately in a misleading way: “‘But what about the weapons of the traffickers?’ it’s a charge that is addressed to us”.

Misleading publications on social networks suppress the following excerpt, in which Dino states that this charge “is aimed at those who, all these years, have not adequately fought against the existence of these illegal weapons where they should not have. And these illegal weapons came largely from where? From these windows, of these avenues that opened up for armaments in Brazil”, referring to the measures of the Bolsonaro government that expanded access to weapons.

Contrary to what misleading publications make it seem, the minister does not escape responsibility for the problem. He argues that the census will make it possible to track people who bought restricted-use weapons that are no longer in their possession, and these people should explain the destination of the pieces.

From this, he says, actions will be organized to recover the objects. “Let’s wait for the end (of the census) and then we will have a concrete picture, then we will be able, in relation to the legal (registrations), to continue their life, and in relation to the illegal ones to intensify the operations, which we already we are doing”, he says, citing an operation that seized weapons in the Baixada Fluminense, in Rio de Janeiro.

The Ministry of Justice was approached by Comprova, but did not respond until the publication of this verification.

What can we learn from this check

It is common for disinformation disseminators to take legitimate content out of context to support misleading narratives. Legitimate content used in false contexts is believable and more easily accepted.

In order not to be deceived, it is important to observe whether content is being shared in full and, if it seems not to be, try to look for it at the source, either using search engines such as Google, or consulting the professional press on the subject.

why do we investigate

Comprova monitors suspicious content published on social networks and messaging apps about public policies and elections at the federal level and opens investigations for those publications that have achieved greater reach and engagement. You can also suggest checks via WhatsApp +55 11 97045-4984. Suggestions and questions related to questionable content can also be sent to Sheet via WhatsApp 11 99486-0293.

Other checks on the topic

Flávio Dino has already been the target of several other pieces of disinformation, such as the one recently published by Comprova showing that it was misleading that he met with criminals in a Rio de Janeiro community. Recently, the project also pointed out that a post by Carlos Bolsonaro (PL) that accused him of defending the use of chloroquine against covid-19 was misleading. Other checking initiatives, such as Agência Lupa and Boatos.Org, have shown that the claim that he would appear in a video with a “terrorist” from Brasilia is false and that it is not true that the minister responds to 277 lawsuits in court.