By Their Fruits: André Ventura

André Ventura often speaks in the name of Christian values and the family. For the Brazilians who live in Portugal — the country's largest foreign community, and I am one of them — his fruits are not abstract. They are personal.

“Go back to Brazil”

On 26 October 2026, a day after Lula's victory, Ventura published a video on Instagram saying that, “as far as it depends” on him, the Brazilians in Portugal who voted for Lula should go back to Brazil — to the “dictatorship” and the “misery,” he wrote in the caption.

Notice what this means. These are people who live here legally, work on building sites, in restaurants, in hospitals and in care homes, pay taxes and contribute to Portuguese social security. Ventura's criterion for throwing them out was not what they did: it was whom they voted for, in another country. It is the same logic as the Brazilian employers who threatened to fire anyone who voted for Lula — only uttered by someone who wants to govern Portugal.

The fake video

To illustrate the idea, Ventura shared a video of “bandits celebrating the result” of the election, which he called “strange.” Polígrafo, SAPO's fact-checker, investigated and classified it as false: the footage was from February 2022, in a prison in Recife, with inmates celebrating goals by Santa Cruz against Sport. It had nothing to do with the election.

Lula won with 51.79% of the vote. Ventura did not need to invent anything in order to disagree with the result. He chose to illustrate his opinion with a verifiable lie — and those who shared it believed it.

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: […] A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

Proverbs 6:16, 19

Convicted of discrimination

This is not the first case. In 2021, Ventura was convicted of having called a family from Bairro da Jamaica, in Seixal, “bandits.” He appealed, and lost twice: the Lisbon Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in September 2021 and the Supreme Court of Justice maintained it in December. The Court of Appeal saw in the offences a “discriminatory dimension based on skin colour and socio-economic situation.” The court ordered him to apologize publicly, on pain of paying 5,000 euros for each new offence. Ventura considered the decision unjust and announced an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

It is the same pattern: accusing without evidence specific people, chosen by colour, by origin or by vote.

The Roma community

The Public Prosecutor's Office opened an inquiry into Ventura's videos about the Roma community, after ten associations filed a complaint for incitement to hatred. Ventura said he awaits the outcome; there is, so far, no known decision. A different inquiry, into Chega's posters “Roma must obey the law” and “This is not Bangladesh,” was closed by the Public Prosecutor's Office in March 2026 — and that is recorded here.

But words do not stay on paper. In October 2025, Renascença reported that Roma children were being insulted in schools with cries of “Viva o Chega” and “death to the Roma.” The party is not responsible for what others shout; but it is responsible for the words it gives them.

In the international network

In the European Parliament, Chega sits in the Patriots for Europe group, with Viktor Orbán's Fidesz, Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National and Vox. The programme of the CPAC in Budapest, in March 2026, announced Ventura alongside Javier Milei and Eduardo Bolsonaro. It is the same political family that, months later, helped Flávio Bolsonaro leave Brazil.

For the sake of completeness

There are facts in his favour, and an honest article records them. In the same week as the Lula voters, Ventura said that Flávio Bolsonaro “should not have fled” and that, if he were in government, he would not give him asylum. In 2020, he declared himself against the death penalty, which his party's members rejected in an internal vote; he advocates life imprisonment instead. He proposed chemical castration for those convicted of abusing minors, a bill that Parliament refused to debate.

“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.”

1 John 4:20

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

John 13:35

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

Matthew 7:16

This article is part of the series accompanying the book O Altar e o Algoritmo — Como identificar os novos mercadores da fé. The rule is the same as the book's: separate the proven fact from suspicion and from the defence's denial, and put the source beside every statement.

The series “By Their Fruits”

• The far right that calls itself Christian
• Donald Trump
• Jair Bolsonaro
• Eduardo and Flávio Bolsonaro
• Javier Milei
• André Ventura

Sources

• Diário do Poder — Ventura defends that Lula's voters return to Brazil
• Polígrafo — The video shared by Ventura does not show inmates celebrating Lula's victory
• Observador — Lisbon Court of Appeal confirms Ventura's conviction (14/09/2021)
• DN — The Supreme Court maintained the conviction
• DN — Ventura and Chega ordered to apologize to the family of Bairro da Jamaica
• DN — Public Prosecutor's Office opens inquiry into Ventura's videos about Roma
• Renascença — Public Prosecutor's Office closes complaint against Chega's posters (11/03/2026)
• Renascença — Roma children insulted in schools (28/10/2025)
• Observador — Ventura says Flávio should not have fled (29/10/2026)
• DN — Chega members say no to the death penalty (2020)