Bridges on BR-158 were built during Bolsonaro government

Projeto Comprova verified the veracity of the information in a video that states that three concrete bridges, located on a stretch of the BR-158, between the municipalities of Redenção and Santana do Araguaia (PA), were built during the government of Jair Bolsonaro ( PL).

The content circulates on Facebook and Twitter. The National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) confirmed the location of the constructions and stated that all had services started in 2020, the second year of President Bolsonaro’s term.

Comprova checked a video recorded in selfie mode, in which a man, identified in caption as “Chimbica na zona”, shows three concrete bridges that he claims are located on a stretch of the BR-158 highway, near the municipality of Redenção ( PAN).

He praises President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, to whom he attributes the works.

Video verification was requested by Comprova readers.

In a note to Comprova, the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) confirmed the location of the constructions and stated that all had services started in 2020, the second year of President Bolsonaro’s term.

Two of them, which cross the Água Preta stream and the Itamarati river, were completed in 2021; the third, which crosses the Araras River, is still under construction. The agency did not say when the work is expected to be completed.

Comprova made contact with Chimbica through a Facebook profile, but had not received a response until the publication of this verification.

The video was classified as proven because it presents a true fact.

How do we check?

Through communication between journalistic vehicles that collaborate with Comprova, we received an indication of a previous publication by Estadão Verifies about a TikTok post that appeared to have been filmed in one of the locations that appear in Chimbica’s video.

In this other post, a user claims that one of the concrete bridges on BR-158, in the region of Redenção (PA), was built during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Estadão confirmed that the information was true, contacting the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit).

The agency identified the bridge that appears in the TikTok video as the one that crosses the Água Preta stream, and reported that two other works were advancing in the region, crossing the Araras and Itamarati rivers.

Comprova contacted Dnit to verify that these three bridges were the same as those shown in the video verified here, and to confirm that they were all built during the Bolsonaro government.

We also made contact via email and Instagram with the City Hall of Redenção (PA), but we did not receive a response.

To identify the author of the video, we did a Google search for the terms “Chimbica”, “Chimbica na zona” and “Chimbica Pará”. We found on the DiárioCidade website the registration of a candidate for councilor in Redenção (PA), in the 2016 elections, who identified himself as Chimbica at the polls.

The candidate, whose full name is Ivanildo Oliveira Dias, appeared (from the available photo) to be the same man who recorded the video on BR-158.

We are looking for your registration on the website for Disclosure of Candidatures and Electoral Accounts, in the space designated to the names that applied for a vacancy in the Chamber of Redemption in 2016.

On this website, run by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the team found information about Chimbica’s candidacy. Analyzing the documents made available by the TSE on this page, we found the voter registration number, which made it possible to verify, through the court system, that Chimbica is currently affiliated with the MDB.

We then searched social networks for “Chimbica Dias” and found profiles on Instagram and Facebook, where the same video verified here had been published, on January 21, 2022. We tried to contact us through Facebook, but we did not get a response.

Verification

The constructions

The BR-158 starts in the city of Redenção, in Pará, and passes through the states of Mato Grosso, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. The highway ends in Santana do Livramento (RS ), on the border between Brazil and Uruguay.

Due to the fact that it crosses the country from North to South, it is a strategic route for the flow of agricultural production from Mato Grosso, being known as the “soy corridor”.

According to the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit), in a note sent to Comprova on February 1, the verified video shows three bridges located on the BR-158, between the municipalities of Redenção and Santana do Araguaia, in Pará.

Two of them, which cross the Água Preta stream and the Itamarati river, were completed in 2021; the third, which crosses the Araras River, is still under construction. The agency did not say when the work is expected to be completed. Also according to the department, all bridges had services started in 2020.

In this way, the content verified here is true: as the author of the video says, the structures were built during the government of Jair Bolsonaro, who has Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas as Minister of Infrastructure since the beginning of the administration (Dnit is an autarchy linked to to the Ministry of Infrastructure).

Historic

In August 2019, the Ministry of Infrastructure announced that Tarcísio had signed the work order to build the concrete bridge Água Preta, located on the stretch of BR-158 between Redenção and the border with Mato Grosso. The event was attended by political leaders from both states and representatives of the productive sector.

At the time, the ministry stated that the work was essential to guarantee the flow of production from the Center-West, increase logistics and promote infrastructure in the southeast of Pará. According to the ministry, that would be the first of six bridges that would be built by the government. federal. The verification only found information about works on three bridges.

Before the construction of the new structure on the Água Preta stream, accidents at the site were frequent, caused by unfinished bridges, poor paving and lack of signage, according to information from the Correio de Carajás website.

A statement published on the Redenção City Hall website reacted positively to the announcement of the work, stating that it was about the end of the “killer bridges” on BR-158.

In October 2021, Dnit announced that the work on the Água Preta stream was practically completed. Regarding the bridge over the Itamarati River, the municipality reported that the beams had been laid and the teams were preparing for concreting. The work on the bridge over the Araras River was in the process of driving the foundation piles.

The video and its author

Comprova identified that the person responsible for the verified images is Ivanildo Oliveira Dias, 44, also known as Chimbica Dias. The video was originally published on the author’s profile on January 21st.

At the beginning of the video, the man informs the date and place of the recording: January 19, 2022, on a stretch of the BR-158 that connects Redenção to cities such as Santana do Araguaia and the state of Mato Grosso. He points over his shoulder to a wooden bridge in the background and claims the structure was used by motorists “30 years ago”.

Then he turns the camera to the other side and shows a paved concrete bridge. He attributes the work to Bolsonaro and Tarcísio de Freitas, praising the president and the minister.

The video has a cut and the man appears again showing a bridge under construction on the BR-158 and praises the managers again. After another cut, Chimbica shows another wooden bridge and then a concrete structure next to it.

He says that the project is ready, only the asphalt is missing. Throughout the video, the man also attacks the PT, the party of former president Lula, pre-candidate for the presidency and Bolsonaro’s main rival in the 2022 elections.

Born in Redenção, Chimbica was a candidate for city councilor in 2016 for the PTC (Christian Worker Party), a small right-wing acronym with conservative ideals. As a result, he was an alternate. However, on the website of the City Council of Redenção there is no record of him having assumed a seat in the House during the legislature.

Data from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) show that Chimbica was from the PTC until 2020, when he joined the MDB, where he currently has a regular registration. In the application record there is no information about your profession.

Comprova tried to contact the author of the video through Facebook, but there was no response until the publication of this verification.

Why do we investigate?

Comprova investigates suspicious content related to the pandemic, public policies of the federal government and elections. Suspicious publications that have wide reach on social networks and messaging apps are chosen.

In the case of this video related to the BR-158 bridges, the topic is relevant to this year’s election and to the Union’s public policies, as it deals with infrastructure works — one of the main fronts of action of the government of Jair Bolsonaro, pre-candidate for the re-election.

The content reached almost 8,000 views on Twitter and Facebook as of February 2, 2022. Verification of this video was requested by readers of Comprova through the form available on the website.

Comprova also recently checked other election-related posts, such as the case of the misleading video that Facebook restricted the sharing of pro-Bolsonaro content. The team also verified that even without biometrics, voters will be able to vote in 2022.

Fake posts related to public works are common. Comprova has already verified, for example, that the asphalt that gave way on BR-319, in Amazonas, was not the work of the Bolsonaro government.

The team also investigated a post that lied when it said that Bolsonaro is distributing machines that Dilma would donate to African countries to the states and a video that omitted actions by previous governments to exalt works of the current management in the Transamazon Highway.

There was also the case of another viral post with real photos of federal government works on BR 116 in Ceará.

For Comprova, proven is a true fact; confirmed event; proven location; or original content published without editing.

Investigated by: O Popular and Nexo. Verified by: Jornal do Commercio, Estadão, Rádio Band News FM, Plural