No, video does not show a HAARP facility being attacked in Brazil

By: Ankita Kulkarni
March 22 2024

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Screenshots of viral posts on social media. (Source: X/Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?
A video of people knocking down electrical poles has been shared on social media platforms, claiming that it depicts people vandalizing a HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) research facility in Brazil.

One such post on Facebook (archived here) sharing the video states, “HAARP Brazil. Locals break into what appears to be a HAARP facility and tear it down. There is exactly the same looking facility only larger in Carmarthenshire, Wales which has been there since 2013.Wonder if anyone in uk has balls as big as these local Brazilian’s.” Similar posts on Facebook (archived here and here) have urged people in other cities to take similar actions against HAARP facilities.

The video was also shared on X (formerly Twitter) with similar claims, and the archived versions of posts can be found here and here. 

Screenshots of viral posts on social media. (Source: X/Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What are the facts?
A reverse image search of a screenshot from the viral clip led us to a YouTube video uploaded by the channel “Magazine Coffee” on November 6, 2017. The caption written in Portuguese roughly translates to, “IGARASHI Farm in Western Bahia, residents of Correntina knock down power transformers.”

A Google search directed us to a report published by O Antagonista, a local media outlet in Brazil, dated November 5, 2017. The report included the viral clip, stating it shows people destroying facilities owned by the Igarashi food producer in Correntina, Bahia.

Another report by a Brazilian media house, G1, published on November 7, 2017, added that more than 500 people vandalized Igarashi's property, toppling power grids, sheds, and setting fire to tractors and agricultural equipment. The protest was reportedly against the company's extensive use of water from the Rio Arrojado for agricultural irrigation.

An article by Notícias Agrícolas, a local news organization in Brazil, also included similar details, noting that the protests were triggered by water shortages caused by the irrigation systems deployed by Igarashi, which were drying up the river and causing power outages.  

We also found a clarification issued by Igarashi, which said that “its facilities in the Municipality of Correntina, State of Bahia, were illegally and arbitrarily invaded by individuals who, breaking down fences, set fire to the facilities, destroyed machinery, the entire energy system, tractors.” We have also contacted the food company for clarification, who have yet to respond.

Screenshot of the press note by Igarashi. (Source: Revista Cafeicultura/Screenshot)

The above evidence establishes that the video shows people vandalizing an agricultural farm in Brazil and not a HAARP facility.

What about HAARP?
HAARP, or the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, is a research facility in Alaska, managed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, that studies the ionosphere. The facility has been a focal point of controversy, particularly during natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and tropical storms, where people alleged that HAARP artificially created them through weather manipulation. Logically Facts has produced a detailed article on this, which can be read here.

Furthermore, it is important to note that the only HAARP facility is located in Alaska. Other fact-checking organizations that debunked the video in 2020 and 2023 quoted Rod Boyce, a spokesperson for HAARP, stating that “there were no attacks at HAARP and it's operational,” and added, “There are no other HAARP locations.” 

Logically Facts has also contacted the facility for a comment and will update the check if we receive a response. 

Several conspiratorial claims against this HAARP have been made online in the past; fact-checks written by Logically Facts can be read here, here, and here.

The verdict
The video of locals vandalizing an agricultural farm in Brazil amid the water shortage protests has been falsely claimed to show an attack on a HAARP facility. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.