Lula did not announce the confiscation of Brazilians’ savings, contrary to what he claims in a misleading post – 07/10/2023 – Market

It is not true that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has announced the confiscation of Brazilians’ savings. Video circulating on social media with an excerpt from the Chief Executive’s speech is misleading in making such a statement, distorting the meaning of the term “regional savings” and advising people to withdraw their money from savings.

Lula’s statement used out of context in the piece of disinformation was made on May 30, 2023, in Brasília, during a meeting between the president and heads of state from ten countries in South America.

While speaking, Lula listed a series of proposals for integration and cooperation between nations to be considered by the group, as verified by the Comprova Project. Among them, “place regional savings at the service of economic and social development, mobilizing development banks”.

To the report, the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic clarifies that the suggestion presented by the president does not deal with the savings account of Brazilians and that the word “savings” was used to refer to a common financial reserve among the countries of the southern continent -American.

In addition, constitutional amendment 32, approved in 2001, prohibits “the issuance of provisional measures on matters aimed at the detention or seizure of goods, popular savings or any financial asset”, that is, the confiscation of savings by the president of the Republic is not even allowed by law.

Misleading, for Comprova, is content removed from the original context and used in another so that its meaning undergoes changes; that uses inaccurate data or that induces an interpretation different from the author’s intention; content that is confusing, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.

Reach

Comprova investigates suspicious content with greater reach on social networks. Until July 7, the post on TikTok had 7.9 thousand shares, 6.3 thousand likes and 883 comments. On Twitter, one of the publications that went viral the most accumulated 208 thousand views, 2.8 thousand likes and 800 shares.

How do we check

First, we Googled “Lula opens meeting with South American presidents”, the headline of the live broadcast used to compose the disinformation piece, and “UOL”, whose logo appears in the misleading post. We found some videos on the news portal on the subject and, looking at them one by one, we identified the original by the stripe.

Next, we downloaded the videos and used Transkriptor to transcribe and compare the audio from the original video to the misleading post. We used InVID to try to identify the woman who appears in the recording, which was not possible, and to locate any sharing of the misleading post on other platforms.

Afterwards, we Googled the terms “regional savings”, “Lula” and “Collor”, and found reports on the subject (Valor Econômico, InfoMoney, JC, UOL), government publications and checks on the subject made by agencies (UOL Confere , AFP, Estadão Verify, Aos Fatos and Reuters).

We interviewed the professor and coordinator of the Law course at Feevale University, Cássio Bemvenuti, and the economist José Antonio de Moura, professor at the same institution.

Finally, we contacted the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic and the person responsible for sharing the misleading content.

Context

The video used by the disinformation piece originates from a live broadcast made by UOL on YouTube, on May 30, 2023. At the time, Lula was meeting with ten heads of state in South America. The meeting, which took place at the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasília, was attended by leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. The President of Peru, Dina Boluarte, unable to attend, was represented by the President of the Council of Ministers, Alberto Otárola.

While speaking, Lula listed a series of proposals for integration and cooperation between nations to be considered by South American leaders. Among them, “place regional savings at the service of economic and social development, mobilizing development banks” in these countries.

The banks cited were CAF (Corporación Andina de Fomento), headquartered in Venezuela; Fonplata (Financial Fund for the Development of the La Plata Basin), in Bolivia; Banco do Sul, also based in Venezuela; and the Brazilian Bndes (National Bank for Economic and Social Development). Three of them are not even controlled by Brazil.

According to Valor Econômico, the list of suggestions was prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the aim of “resuming cooperation within the continent”. After the meeting, the participants signed a document called the Brasilia Consensus.

The full speech is available on the government website. When reading the text in its entirety, it is possible to notice that the president is referring all the time to joint actions between countries, which depend on a collective agreement, not to a measure to be taken independently by the Brazilian government directly affecting the population.

regional savings

The “regional savings” to which Lula refers is a common financial reserve among the countries of the South American continent, bringing together the development banks of these nations.

As the government clarifies in a note, economist José Antonio de Moura, a professor at Feevale University, explained that the term has nothing to do with Brazilian savings accounts or with the confiscation adopted by former President Fernando Collor de Mello.

“The profiteers seek this information, distort it, precisely to create confusion. Of course, it is nothing like that. There is not the slightest possibility that the government will do this, because we know the moral damage to the person who does this. We are very mature, there is no possibility of it happening again”, he assesses.

The professor explains that this financial reserve addressed by the president in his speech is related to cooperation agreements between countries. “We have the BNDES, just like other countries also have development banks, so they take quotas from these banks, resources from these banks, and take part for these agreements between countries. These resources are to develop a certain region, countries that need investment “, Moura explains.

Legislation

The sharing of Lula’s speech out of context and with a distortion of the term “regional savings” reignited the fear of Brazilians impacted by the Collor Plan. At the time, in March 1990, the then Minister of Finance, Zélia Cardoso de Mello, seeking to contain hyperinflation, announced a new economic plan, which, among other measures, foresaw the blocking of savings accounts. Approximately 80% of the money invested was retained at the Central Bank for 18 months.

Despite fears about savings inherited from the Collor government, confiscation by the President of the Republic is not supported by legislation. “The proposal aimed at confiscating savings is absolutely unconstitutional,” said Professor Cássio Bemvenuti.

As a basis, the professor cites article 62 of constitutional amendment 32, approved in 2001, which prohibits “the issuance of provisional measures on matters aimed at the detention or seizure of goods, popular savings or any financial asset”.

What the person responsible for the publication says

The report contacted the person responsible for publishing the piece of misinformation via TikTok. There was no response until the publication of this check.

What can we learn from this check

The misleading post takes advantage of the trauma of Brazilians with the confiscation of money in banks promoted by Collor to spread panic in society. When you come across posts linked to sensitive topics like this, be wary.

Seek information from the professional press and official bodies. In this case, the president was talking about “regional savings”. Try to find out about the term and understand the meaning of the speech before sharing false information. Search for the original speech, in full. Disinformation pieces often use snippets taken out of context to suggest a misinterpretation.

why do we investigate

Comprova monitors suspicious content posted 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

The same content was checked by UOL Confere, AFP, Estadão Verify, Aos Fatos and Reuters.

Comprova has already verified other misleading posts involving the current president. Recently, it found that the video deceives when “checking” Lula’s speech on social inequality, that Lula did not sign a decree to put an end to private property and that it is false that the bridge over the Araguaia River was embargoed by the federal government.