Fact-check: Politician thrown in a river for failing to deliver election promise?

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Facebook users around the world are sharing a video showing a politician being thrown into a river by angry locals, as he failed to fulfill his campaign promise to build a bridge. Failed. But while many web users were happy to see what they thought was a politician getting his just deserts, the man is actually an amateur actor. The video, created by a community group in Brazil, shows scenes that reflect local issues.

The story seems to be resonating with voters who feel short-changed by politicians, and the video has been viewed thousands of times by various posts, including GroupKenya, a Facebook group with over two million followers. There are more members. We have saved the post here.

“What should we do with all the politicians,” the caption reads. “He promised to build a bridge and after five years he will come back asking for votes with the promise of the same bridge.”

The same clip was posted on Instagram by Kenyan TV presenter Jane Nguiri and a Colombian Twitter account, as well as a Malaysian Facebook page with a similar narrative.

“This politician promised to build a bridge…disappeared and came back just before the next election and promised them the same bridge. Can we do this in Malaysia,” the caption said.

The video is stamped with a watermark that says “Portal Angumadera”. Hoping to learn more, we did a Google search using the key words “politician promised bridge portal engomadera”. Search results found a longer version of the video on a Brazilian Facebook page called Portal Angomadera.

Engomadeira is a suburb of Salvador, capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia.

The lengthy clip’s description, in Portuguese, includes hashtags that can be translated as “#staging” and “#recording”, indicating that he may have performed.

The full caption can be translated as: “The politician made a promise he didn’t keep and was thrown into the open sewer. #recording #staging #Lifereality #Georgetrovao #Ericosilva”.

The lengthy clip also includes film-style text identifying the video as a “Production of Erico Silva”.

It is clear from the full video that the scene is staged.

AFP Fact Check’s Brazil team watched the video and explained to us that the man in the light-colored shirt was introducing himself as a candidate for municipal elections and improvements to the area, including the removal of an open-air sewage system. is promising About four minutes in, the text reads: “The councilor has been elected, and he hasn’t kept his promises. He’s back after four years.”

He has been seen telling residents that he could not help their community because there were too many things that needed to be done elsewhere. Angry residents appear to abuse him, and he is then pushed into the sewers he promised to improve.

Around the seven-minute mark, a man appears with a microphone to interview the “politician” — and at this point, it’s revealed that the alleged councilor is actually the vice president of the Portal Angomadera Community Group.

“We made this video to show our people how much we have been lied to for four years. Waiting for everything to happen. A long time,” says the actor who plays a politician in the scene.

In an apparent reaction to the confusion over the video, which has been viewed more than two million times, the portal Angumadera clarified that the scene was staged to make a point about local politics.

“Was it real, or roleplay?” asked Facebook user Leo Ventura.

The group responded: “Dude, the problems shown in the videos are real, but it was filmed and staged with actors to show that when politicians come here making promises, they get it. There will be an answer (if they do not fulfill them)”.