A man was robbed of his cellphone while the national deputy Esteban Paulón, a legislator of the Socialist Party, was giving a live interview via video call from São Paulo, Brazil. The meeting took place within the context of the Brazilian presidential elections, to which Paulón travelled to back the candidacy of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Before the episode, the leader had taken part in the "march of silence", a protest in support of Lula that was held in São Paulo as a campaign closing event. During that activity, Lula was on a truck together with his running‑mate Fernando Haddad and other candidates. Paulón shared images of the day on his X account, where he wrote that he was "accompanying the hope of Latin America" in the city.
The legislator was on the program "The Exception to the Rule" of an Argentine radio station, broadcasting live with a blurred background behind him, when a man approached and snatched the cellphone he was using for the connection. The scene was captured and quickly went viral on social networks.
During the interview, Paulón expressed his support for Lula and described him as "one of the few international leaders who stood up to" Donald Trump, the big tech companies, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. He also noted that U.S. officials such as Vice‑President James D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been in the last week explicitly supporting other candidates.
Paulón’s trip to Brazil was aimed at "solving" the conflict between the Brazilian president and Argentine president Javier Milei, a strong opponent of the PT candidate. The legislator had already travelled to Brasília in early September to meet the Brazilian foreign minister in a meeting attended by other Argentine deputies.
Regarding the march, Paulón explained that it is called "the silence" because there was supposedly an electoral ban, and therefore "no one talks politically". The deputy’s description was not independently confirmed.
