In September 2024, a video appeared on social networks about migrants from Latin America sweeping goods from store shelves in the United States. We have verified the accuracy of such posts.
September 11 publicist Alexander Nevzorov published in his Telegram channel a video with the English subtitle “Venezuelans seized a store in Colorado.” Nevzorov linked the video with Venezuelan gangs operating in the city of Aurora, which “consist of illegal immigrants” and “are engaged in banditry, smuggling, drug distribution, etc.” in the United States. “The authorities assure that everything is under control, but not always and not everywhere. A year ago, Biden was unable to answer the question of how many illegal immigrants there are in America. But Trump counted 11 million people. He promises to evict them all,” the publicist added. His post at the time of writing this analysis had collected 572,000 views.
Two videos are attached to Nevzorov’s publication: one was filmed in a supermarket, and the other is a compilation of three other videos. The first episode of the second video shows a group of armed people in the entrance of a residential building (it is stated that these are “illegal Venezuelans taking control of the residential complex, they kicked out the residents and moved in themselves”). The second fragment shows a dump between houses, and the third shows a littered parking lot. In the upper left corner it is indicated that all three episodes also take place in Aurora, Colorado.
At least part of this footage was actually filmed in this city and went viral on social networks back in August. At the same time, how writes The fact-checking project Snopes, which studied the video with armed people in the entrance, is still unclear who they were and what they were doing there. Local police stated, that this post is being circulated with incorrect comments - no armed gangs took over the apartment complex and forced residents to pay them money, as some commentators claimed. Residents also told to journalists from the Denver7 television channel that they are afraid to leave the house: “We are all accused of being in gangs, but this is an absolute lie.”
At the end of August the city administration confirmed on the social network X that a “small” number of representatives of the Tren de Aragua group are operating in Aurora, but emphasized that information about the activities of criminals is often distorted on social networks. To combat Tren de Aragua in the city at the end of August was created special police unit. At the beginning of September, city authorities reportedthat three alleged gang members were arrested for the shooting 3 km from the building where the video was filmed. Two more likely participants in the same incident were arrested in July and are being held in custody.
Although the supermarket video has the same geotag, it was not filmed in Colorado. How found out fact checkers from the Lead Stories project, original video (it's about twice as long) published On June 16, a TikTok user with the username @alessanro.sr indicated the Brazilian city of Salvador as the filming location. In the comments, the blogger clarified that this is a supermarket next to the Barra shopping center.
Judging by Google Maps, in the neighboring building earlier worked Bompreço chain store. Local media in mid-June reported, that the supermarket is closing, and the sale of goods has attracted a lot of attention from customers. In addition to the video, which no later than September 1 began to be passed off as filmed in Colorado, @alessanro.sr that day published another video from the same location. “Bompreço is closing, people are going crazy,” the caption reads.
Thus, we can conclude that the situation in the American city of Aurora is truly turbulent. However, the video published by Nevzorov about Venezuelans seizing a supermarket there has nothing to do with the United States. It was actually filmed in Brazil almost three months earlier. The author of the video captured the behavior of customers at a sale associated with the closing of a store.
Cover photo: social networks
- The Wall Street Journal. In Colorado, a Murder and a Viral Video Stoke Fears of Migrant Crime
- CNN. This is the dangerous Venezuelan gang infiltrating the US that you probably know nothing about but should
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- Is the video of a migrant relieving himself in a Dutch supermarket true?
- Is it true that most crimes in Russia are committed by migrants?
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