Does a social media video of large crowds moving through a city center show a mass public protest against the disputed results of Venezuela's July 2024 presidential election? No, that's not true: The video first appeared in 2022 and shows soccer fans gathering in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, to celebrate Argentina winning soccer's World Cup that year. It does not show angry protestors in Venezuela in 2024.
The video appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on July 31, 2024. Its caption read:
Things getting serious in #Venezuela
This is what the claim looked like on X at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed July 31 15:22:59 2024 UTC)
A reverse image search (archived here) on Google Lens for the shots of the large crowd seen in the video led to a December 20, 2022, Football España article (archived here) titled, "WATCH: Incredible Scenes As Argentina Fans Pack Out Buenos Aires Ahead of Parade." The English-language article reported that Argentina had defeated France to win the 2022 World Cup.
The exact video seen in the claim on X appeared in this article. On December 20, 2022, Football España also posted the video (archived here) on its verified X account. The post's caption read:
An estimated 4 million people have turned out in Buenos Aires today ahead of today's parade of the La Albiceleste squad
A December 20, 2022, article from the Buenos Aires-based outlet La Noticia de Quilmes also displayed an image of the large crowd seen in the July 31, 2024, video post on X. The article, according to Google Translate, reported that Argentina's national team had celebrated "with a helicopter flight over an overflowing Buenos Aires with more than 5 million fans."
A July 30, 2024, video (archived here) from the Associated Press titled "Thousands protest across Venezuela after Nicolás Maduro declared winner in presidential election," displayed how protests in the streets of Caracas, Venezuela's capital, actually turned out. They do not resemble the celebratory gathering seen in the video post on X.
Lead Stories previously debunked a separate claim that another social media video also showed widescale post-election protests in Venezuela following the country's July 28, 2024, presidential vote. In reality, the video's protests were from 2017.
