Itamar do Fusca says Estadão omitted facts.
The newspaper published this Thursday, almost a month after the locksmith's Volkswagen Beetle turned into a fireball in downtown São Paulo, that he received a 1980 Brasília from a businessman from Curitiba; however, only the donations through the Blog da Cidadania reached Mr. Itamar; the crowdfunding campaign that Estado de S. Paulo claims raised "R$ 6,7" didn't raise anything because it didn't reach its target of R$ 10.
By Eduardo Guimarães, from Citizenship Blog
On January 25th, Itamar Santos, a locksmith from São Paulo, began a saga that would transform him into a kind of celebrity. Starting with a seemingly tragic event in which he lost an old Volkswagen Beetle he used for work, the solidarity of countless citizens from all over the country changed his story.
This case has resurfaced due to an article in the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo published this Thursday (February 20th), almost a month after Itamar's Volkswagen Beetle turned into a fireball in downtown São Paulo. The newspaper discovered that the locksmith received a car from a businessman from Curitiba (owner of a bar), a 1980 Volkswagen Brasília.
The Estadão article reported several facts. The name of the donor of the Brasília, their occupation, the truly impeccable condition of the vehicle, and also that this wasn't all Itamar received.
Internet users from various parts of the country were moved by the ordeal he, two women, and a six-year-old child (a girl) experienced during a protest against the World Cup on the 25th, and deposited thousands of reais into his bank account.
Those internet users who donated to the owner of the burned Volkswagen Beetle discovered his account number through this blog. On January 27th, the author of this page visited Mr. Itamar's residence and received his current account number at Itaú bank from him.
On that same day, the post "Help Itamar buy another Beetle #ThereWillBeABetle" was published here. The article featured a video in which Mr. Itamar authorized this blog to conduct the fundraising campaign which, according to him now – in the video at the end of this post – earned him "almost 9 thousand reais".
Three days after the start of the #VaiTerFusca campaign, launched on this page, the Blog contacted Itamar again to find out the result in his Itaú bank account. The post Itamar thanks #VaiTerFusca was published on January 30th and features a video in which the friendly locksmith thanks the Blog, shows his account statement and gives more details about the case.
The Estadão article omitted all these facts, despite the locksmith, blessed by the solidarity of all parts of the country, telling me that he informed the newspaper of the name of the author of the fundraising campaign, how much the campaign raised, and that he only gave his bank account number to one person, the undersigned.
All this information is in the video at the end of this post.
Below, however, you can see that the Estadão article reported something else. Check out the section that deals with donations.
“(…) An online campaign emerged to help the locksmith and try to compensate for the loss. Several bank deposits were made directly into Itamar's account, totaling around R$ 7. An online crowdfunding campaign has already raised R$ 6,7 – the organizers intend to buy another car (…)”
Another fact that Estadão omitted was Itamar's statement that he never received any money other than what hundreds of people, after obtaining his account number from this page, deposited in his name at Itaú bank, as he confirms in the video at the end of the post.
In fact, the fundraising campaign that the newspaper claims raised "R$ 6,7" didn't raise anything because it didn't reach its target of R$ 10.
Let me explain: the "online crowdfunding campaign" that Estadão refers to was closed with just over 60% of the amount it aimed to raise, and probably whoever organized it didn't even put their hands on any money, because if it didn't reach ten thousand, the money was returned to the donors.
But that wasn't all that the Estadão article failed to mention. Mr. Itamar also gave the newspaper his version of how the accident with his Volkswagen Beetle happened and his opinion on the type of protest that killed him. However, none of this is included in the article by the major São Paulo newspaper. The reasons for these omissions, however, are known only to Estadão.