The obelisk of Buenos Aires has not yet been illuminated in homage to Isabel II

An image of the iconic Buenos Aires obelisk in the colors of the British flag circulates one day after Elizabeth II’s death at Balmoral Castle, Scotland. Reverse search of images in Russian search engines Yandex revealed that the original photo, without the British colors, was actually taken in 2007.

In the original image, the obelisk appears to be white, so the British flag was added digitally. The photo is stored in two photo banks (Lipov you Experience) where it details that it was captured on May 26, 2007. “Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world, and El Obelisco, El Obelisco at night, Buenos Aires, Argentina,” the description says.

On the other hand, from the Autonomous City Government of Buenos Aires they denied to Newtral.es that the obelisk had been lit with the British flag. “The information (image) circulating on social networks is not true,” he said. Paul TominoDirector General of the Press for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

The Buenos Aires obelisk and other monuments in the city are usually illuminated “to commemorate the country’s national day or for awareness and/or prevention campaigns,” as described on the website Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. It September 7, for example, is illuminated with Brazilian colors.

In the website’s programming, published on September 9, one day after Elizabeth II’s death, there is no mention of a tribute to the Queen of England.

The lie was refuted by the Argentine verifier checked you AFP factual, a member of the international network of IFCN verifiers and Newtral.es. verification from AFP factual points out that, on the day Isabel II died, a journalist was at the monument in Buenos Aires and “she was wearing her usual white dress”.