A video clip circulating on social media platforms has sparked controversy, with claims that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made a dismissive comment about the cost of living. The clip, which spread widely in late April, shows the president stating, 'Nobody eats biodiesel, nobody eats gasoline.'
Posts sharing the video often include captions suggesting Lula was addressing the high price of fuel in Brazil, with some overlays reading, 'With the average price per liter at R$7.00, Lula declares in Germany that 'Nobody eats gasoline.'' The implication was that the president was downplaying public concern over expensive gasoline.
However, a thorough investigation reveals this narrative is completely false. The video is authentic and not generated by artificial intelligence, but it has been heavily edited and stripped of its original context. The statements were made during a specific international engagement.
The full context comes from President Lula's participation in the 42nd Brazil-Germany Economic Meeting held in Hannover, Germany. The event was part of the Hannover Fair, a major global industrial expo. During his address, Lula was actively promoting Brazilian biofuels as a sustainable and viable alternative for the European Union market.
His remarks were a direct response to what he called a 'mythology' propagated by opponents of technological innovation in the fuel sector. This narrative falsely claims that Brazilian biofuel production harms food security by competing with agricultural land for food crops.
In his full speech, Lula emphasized that food security is the world's most important 'weapon' and that no country would be 'crazy' to substitute food production for fuel production. He argued that both sectors can develop simultaneously, using Brazil's vast areas of degraded land for biofuel crops without impacting food production or leading to deforestation.
The Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency (Secom) officially debunked the viral claims. In a statement, they confirmed the president's declaration was taken out of context and that he was highlighting how biofuel production does not prejudice food production. Secom strongly condemned the dissemination of false information using the president's image, stating it aims solely to misinform the public and manipulate public opinion.
The edited video conveniently omitted the surrounding sentences that framed the discussion around biofuels and European trade barriers, not domestic fuel prices. This case serves as a clear example of how selective editing can distort a public figure's message to create a misleading narrative. Based on reporting from g1.