A 40-page bilingual media document providing Mexican diplomats with talking points to spin the #Ayotzinapa crisis offers a rather troubling glimpse into how Enrique Peña Nieto’s government is addressing the situation.
Julio Hernández López, author of La Jornada San Luis’ Astillero column, published the following document earlier today, which also includes sample tweets with the hashtag #PorUnMexicoEnPaz (For a Peaceful Mexico):
The last page of the document contains an email explanation about the media packet and makes mention of José Antonio Meade, the country’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs. According to the email, the information in the packet is to be used to coincide with Peña Nieto’s upcoming announcements. The document, the email says, should not be shared with the press, and is intended only for authorized representatives.
On page 3, the document acknowledges its intent: to try and change the narrative since the current situation in Iguala has given Mexico a black eye in the foreign press.
While most of the document is in Spanish, pages 33–37 provide talking points in English. The talking points try to divert the situation from the current protests happening in Mexico, as well as almost daily news updates about the indignation Mexicans are expressing. Here are screen grabs of those pages in their entirety.
The rest of the document ends with sample tweets in Spanish. Here is a sample of those tweets:
While #PorUnMexicoEnPaz was not an active hashtag last week, it has begun to pick up today.
There are also clear indications that many of the tweets are just automated spam, a common social media tactic of the Peña Nieto government and the ruling PRI party.
Manipulating or trying to influence media seems to be the standard inside the Peña Nieto camp. For example, during his run for president in 2012, there were reports that his campaign paid off key Mexican journalists to write nice things about him.
And who can forget this TIME cover from earlier this year, which many felt was another example of having a good PR agent.
All this latest news is happening when Peña Nieto’s popularity has declined dramatically and calls for his resignation intensify.
[…] is no question that the Mexican government of Enrique Peña Nieto uses automated Twitter profiles (also known as “Peñabots”) to try and block out what the country’s Twitter users […]