If you dare to disagree with the left in Guatemala, Twitter is not a social network for you, because you will be banned and censored for simply disagreeing with the dominant narrative, doesn’t mater if you violate or not any of the always changing Twitter rules, you’ll get banned. Most people in Guatemala knows this to be a fact and have personally experienced Twitter’s bias towards the left, but the most interesting evidence can be found in Twitter’s own “Twitter Highlights”, a daily email sent by Twitter to their users highlighting “the most interesting tweets” in your area.
Regardless of whether your account is locked or suspended, Twitter will send you these “highlights” daily, and using my tech background to analyze 120 of these emails (ranging from March 30, 2019 to September 27, 2019) I found many interesting facts. First and foremost, Twitter doesn’t include tweets from right-wing leaning actors, not even from center-right news outlets. For Twitter, the only “journalists” and news organizations that exists are from the left.
La Crème de la Crème
The most highlighted person is CNN correspondent in Guatemala, Bertha Michelle Mendoza Muñoz with the user @mmendoza_GT, daughter of former prosecutor Claudia Martina Muñoz Andrade who according to Honduran news paper “La Prensa” had to withdraw from the Rodrigo Rosenberg’s murder investigation because her daughter (Michelle) had a relationship with Fernando Barillas, spokesperson for the Alvaro Colom presidency at the time. President Colom was the main subject in the Rosenberg investigation. According to elPeriódico, Claudia Martina Muñoz Andrade was also aprehended by the local authorities for abuse of authority and ideological falsehood. It is alleged by anonymous sources that the abuse committed by Michelle’s mother had something to do with an illegal raid orchestrated by her at her former husband’s home. Bertha Michelle Mendoza Muñoz is well known for her role in the movie “La Misteriosa Herencia”, where she plays the role of a “hot peasant from the east” and a zombie, alongside Samuel Morales and Jimmy Morales, the last one being the current president of Guatemala who she now criticizes on Twitter. It is quite amusing to see her fighting as a zombie with the President Morales in this movie, after she (without any interaction with me) published tweets made by another account impersonating me, without fact-checking:
The second and third most highlighted Twitter users for Guatemala are Nómada @nomadagt and Plaza Publica @PlazaPublicaGT, two left-leaning “news outlets” founded in part by Goerge Soros Open Society Foundations and by Guatemalan oligarchs. Number 11 on the list of highlighted tweets is the founder of Nomada Martín Rodríguez Pellecer with the user @revolufashion, (his old @martin_guate was suspended), what a surprise! There are plenty of users with direct links to Soros that are highlighted by Twitter, for example, Soy502 newspaper director and founder, Dina Fernandez Garcia De Vega with the user @dfernandezg was recommended 18 times, and Helen Beatríz Mack Chang with the user @HelenMackCh and @fundamyrnamack was recommended 14 times. Both were partners in the defunct “Fundación Soros Guatemala” and can be fact-checked online on a government tax transparency portal:
It is worth pointing out that the late Ricardo Stein Heinmann was a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Executive Director of Fundación Soros de Guatemala and Technical Secretary of the Secretariat of Peace (SEPAZ). Luis Fernando Carrera Castro @fcarrera1904 being member of the Fundación Soros Guatemala, was also Minister of Foreign Affairs for President Otto Pérez’s government, and on September 9, 2014, it was announced that he would assume the diplomatic representation of Guatemala at the United Nations (UN), Renzo Lautaro Rosal who was also highlighted by Twitter with his user @RosalRenzo was the Program Director for the Fundación Soros Guatemala. All cases show us how the UN and Soros Open Society Foundations are always intertwined and how they are promoted by Twitter.
Twitter election meddling in Guatemala
Twitter claims that it does not interfere with politics and that it doesn’t hold an ideological bias. But 2019 was an election year in Guatemala, and it was quite worrisome to see that the 9th place of recommended Twitter accounts is for the political party Movimiento Semilla with the user @msemillagt, with 25 recommendations or highlighted tweets sent via email from Twitter, when no other political party was promoted or highlighted by them. Semilla’s presidential candidate and former Attorney General, Thelma Esperanza Aldana Hernández de López with the user @ThelmaAldana holds the 11th place in the Twitter Highlights with 20 recommended tweets. During her period as Attorney General in charge of Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, and with the full support of the UN Commission (CICIG), Aldana prosecuted all of her opposing presidential candidates. She was denounced for these actions and for several corruption scandals which took a toll in her presidential bid. She wasn’t allowed to run because of the amount of corruption cases piled against her. She was summoned to appear before a judge at a court hearing, but she disregarded this order. For disobeying the court, a warrant was issued for her arrest. She is currently a fugitive from Guatemalan justice… well, kind of. Democratic Representative for California’s 35th congressional district, Norma Judith Torres Barillas, shared a picture of herself with Thelma Esperanza Aldana Hernández de López and former Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey, so everyone know where she is. Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey is know for publishing the book “Transforming Justice in Guatemala: Strategies and Challenges Investigating Violent Deaths” that was funded by the Open Society Foundation. In 2016 she was appointed Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a “human rights advocacy organization” that received nearly $1 million in grant funding from the Open Society Foundations. That same year she received the Civil Courage Prize along with its $50,000.00 award.
The left-wing Semilla party General Secretary and Congressional candidate Samuel Andrés Pérez Alvarez with the user @samuel_pz along with Congressional candidate and niece to Helen Mack, Lucrecia María Hernández Mack with the user @hernandezmack were also highlighted by Twitter more than 25 times. The only Congressional candidate that wasn’t from Semilla who was also highlighted by Twitter is Mario Taracena Diaz-Sol with the verified user @MarioTaracena from the left-wing UNE party. It is worth noting that Samuel Andrés Pérez Alvarez is the son of Abraham Samuel Pérez De León aka Samuel Pérez-Attías, who was also a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. Both father and son are columnists for Nómada and Plaza Pública respectively, both “news outlets” founded by Soros OSF. The Semilla party was founded by Juan Alberto Fuentes Knight who served as Finance Minister for the left-wing party UNE. Fuentes has held positions with the United Nations in Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile, and Guatemala, after resigning as Finance Minister as a result of corruption allegations, he served as Regional Advisor for the The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC/UNECLAC/CEPAL), he was founder and Director of the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI, one of the bodies that creates the statistics the UN shares) and was chairman of Oxfam International. He resigned to his position on the grounds of a corruption investigation. He was detained by Guatemalan authorities for the Transurbano corruption scandal and he is currently free on bail. The Semilla Movement announced their decision to become a political party in November 2016 and according to elPeriódico, the assembly was hosted by youth radio host Ana Beatríz Del Cid De León @BeadelCid from 949 Radio and introduced Edelberto Torres-Rivas (1930-2018) as mentor for the party. Torres-Rivas is a communist and renowned guerrilla ideologue known for indoctrinating and harboring terrorists from the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP) and other guerrilla organizations at his home during the internal armed conflict. He was secretary general for the Latin American Social Sciences Institute (FLACSO) and a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) where he get to know Juan Alberto Fuentes Knight.
Human rights as a façade
With 47 Twitter shares, the 6th place in the Twitter Highlights lists goes to Augusto Jordán Rodas Andrade with the user @JordanRodas, the Congress-elected Ombudsman (human rights defender) well known for politicizing his position, completely ignoring blatant human rights violations perpetrated by the UN commission CICIG, and for overstating non-human rights violations when benefits his ideological movement. Augusto Jordán Rodas Andrade had legal aid from the Soros founded “Fundación Myrna Mack” to sue the state for allegedly murdering his brother, a guerrilla fighter, during Guatemala’s internal armed conflict. The Foundation requested $8,030,000.00 US dollars to be paid in reparations to the alleged families of the victim and $212,067.93 for the NGO’s legal expenses. Augusto Jordán Rodas Andrade is also known for his excesses in public fund expenditures throughout his entire career in the state and for participating in public demonstrations against the Catholic Church in Guatemala. He stood along with the demonstration of a third wave feminist group that chanted insults to the Christian Faith in front of Metropolitan Cathedral, chants like “get your rosaries out of our ovaries”. For these two reasons he was cited to a congressional hearing where he refused to apologize for his actions. There was a public petition for the resignations or removal of Augusto Jordán Rodas Andrade from his position. Along with more than 30 thousand signatures, the petition was presented to Guatemalan Congress where it was never addressed. The Twitter account for his office, @PDHgt was also included in the Twitter Highlights.
Another two NGOs founded by Soros Open Society Foundations that got the chance to be highlighted by Twitter are the “Protection Unit for Human Rights Defenders” (UDEFEGUA) and the far-left “Committee for Peasant Unity” (CUC). Together they received $176,007.00 USD according to The 2016 Central America Philanthropy Guide and The 2017 Central America Philanthropy Guide, two documents that make clear how much money is channeled to this left-wing NGOs by Soros OSF. It is worth noting that one of the most active representatives of UDEFEGUA is Brenda Lissette Hernández Bátres with the user @BrendaH2O66, sister to former guerrilla fighter Iduvina Estalinova Hernández Batres from the NGO SEDEM with the verified user @iduvina, who according to former left-wing Minister of Foreign Affaris Edgar Armando Gutiérrez Girón affidavit, was in charge of the kidnapping of the son of the Government Minister during the internal armed conflict. Brenda Lissette Hernández Bátres is the coordinator of the clash demonstrator group “La Batucada del Pueblo” @labatucadagt which provoked the violent demonstrations during the Independence Day Celebrations on September 2017 in Guatemala City. This group has ties to former guerrilla groups all over America (as I showed in two articles in this site) and has participated on Sanctuary City demonstrations in the US.
The Twitter account of @JusticiaYaGT, a demonstration group lead by Plaza Publica and Open Society Foundations columnist Alvaro Montenegro Muralles @alvaricokn, the one who gets the very same George Soros to tweet his columns, gets the 15th place with 17 Twitter highlights, even though this account has violated Twitter rules several times for slandering Guatemalans.
Of course, @ONUGuatemala, the United Nations Twitter account for Guatemala was also highlighted by Twitter 27 times, taking the 7th position in the list. The UN is global organization that is present in every cultural space in Guatemala, including the book fair (FILGUA) where their stand has the spotlight, alongside with the EU stand of course.
Left-leaning biased media
Twitter loves to highlight the media, but only if it is left-leaning biased media. Even though Nómada @nomadagt, Plaza Publica @PlazaPublicaGT, Dina Fernandez Garcia De Vega @dfernandezg and Martín Rodríguez Pellecer @revolufashion tops the list of left-leaning highlighted users by Twitter, the rest of the left-leaning news casters don’t fall too far behind. The far-left leaning blog of @PrensaComunitar got the chance to be highlighted. It was founded by Nómada’s columnist Andrea Isabel Ixchíu Hernández, a former Norwegian Embassy employee and daughter to Pedro Rolando Ixchíu Garcia and Aura Isabel Hernández Rosales de Ixchíu. Pedro Ixchíu is a lawyer who received Q1,044,040.30 (around $135,589.64 USD) from the government for redacting the laws that give life to the Presidential Commission against Discrimination and Racism (CODISRA), a gag law to prosecute any dissident of their narrative. According to Andrea, her mother, Aura Hernández, works closely with the European Union. Her sister, Ana Lucía Ixchíu Hernández, is also a columnists for Nómada and Plaza Pública, is founder of an allegedly artistic movement called “Festivales Solidarios” and founder of the allegedly students block called “USAC es Pueblo” @UsacEsPueblo, which was also highlighted by Twitter 5 times in the last 120 Twitter emails. Both groups participated on the violent demonstrations on September 2017.
“USAC es Pueblo” @UsacEsPueblo shares the same ideological narratives as the Twitter account for the Association of University Students “Oliverio Castañeda de León” @AEU_OliverioCDL which was also highlighted 10 times. Oliverio is considered a left-wing martyr, and a book allegedly about his life, founded by the Fundación Soros Guatemala and FLACSO, was used as evidence in a case against former armed forces:
It is worth noting that Pedro Ixchíu is a frequent guess in TV programs and events hosted by a Dionisio Gutierrez NGO called “Fundación Libertad y Desarrollo” @FundacionLD, where he imparts speeches focused on the typical left victimization discourse. Dionisio Gutierrez, the wealthiest man in Guatemala, was involved in the coup d’état perpetrated against former president Serrano Elías in 1993, supporting then General Otto Fernando Pérez Molina who is in preemptive prison since the 2015 massive demonstrations where Guatemalans citizens asked for his resignations on the grounds of a corruption investigation based on corruption allegations.
In a TV program sponsored by Dionisio called “Libre Encuentro”, Dionisio stated that thanks to his efforts and support to then General Otto Fernando Pérez Molina, along with many other ambassadors and diplomats, “democracy was recovered”. Dionisio’s foundation called “Fundación Libertad y Desarrollo” promotes events where he presents his own political perspectives through proxies, “political analysts” and/or, TV hosts, newscasters and journalists like Ana Lucía Mazariegos Salazar @almazariegos, Paola Cristina Hurtado de León @hurtadopaola, Phillip Edward Chicola Gallardo @pchicola, Enrique Godoy García Granados @QuiqueGodoy, all who were also included in the Twitter highlights emails. They also appear in Guatevision programs, on the same cable channel that broadcasts Dionisio’s “Libre Encuentro” program, now rebranded as “Razón de Estado” @RazonDeEstadoTV, sharing screen time in “Con Criterio” @concriteriogt program with Claudia Elizabeth Méndez Arriaza @cmendeza, Juan Luis Font Monzón @JLFont001 and Pedro Trujillo Álvarez of Spanish origin, the last one of Spanish origin, arrived in Guatemala in 1998 as an observer for the United Nations, “Con Criterio” @concriteriogt, Méndez and Font are also highlighted by Twitter; Font 25 times and and Méndez 12 times respectively. Trujillo wasn’t highlighted, and it come as not surprise since he claims to be right-wing.
Also sharing screen time in Guatevision with the “Sin Filtro” show are Daniel Haering Keenan @DarwinHK of Spanish origin, Carlos Ben Kei Chin Diaz @ElBencho_tv who is also an activist close to “La Batucada”, Otto Nery Angel Estrada @ottoangel_gtv and Edwin Estuardo Galdámez Zapeta @ezapeta, Spaniard Daniel Haering Keenan @DarwinHK appears highlighted 34 times and Carlos Ben Kei Chin Diaz @ElBencho_tv 24 times.
And just like the case of Michelle Mendoza, some of these actors are either linked to far-left groups or to corruption cases, sometimes both, like Ana Lucía Mazariegos Salazar @almazariegos who appears in an illegal electoral financing case with the allegation of receiving money linked to the left-wing UNE party, Juan Luis Font Monzón @JLFont001 received Q15,000.00 from the government through Helen Mack:
Claudia Elizabeth Méndez Arriaza @cmendeza was in charge of the Spanish translation for the book “The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?”, a book which above presenting facts, pushes the distorted narrative from the left.
Just as the former member of the Guatemalan Soros Foundation Dina Fernandez Garcia De Vega @dfernandezg and founder of Soy502 gets highlighted by Twitter, other left-wing editorial editorial heads are also highlighted. Her close friend José Luis Valenzuela Carrillo @lfvalenzuela and Juan Carlos Sandoval Recinos @JkSandoval_ from Emisoras Unidas @emisorasunidas and Publinews Guatemala @PublinewsGT, Juan Luis Font Monzón @JLFont001 from Diario Digital @diariodigitalgt, José Rubén Zamora Marroquín @ChepeZamora from elPeriódico @el_Periodico, who received the Myrna Mack award from the former Ombudsman Jorge Eduardo De León Duque @JDeLeonDuque for his “journalistic investigations to clarify Myrna Mack’s assassination”, although former EGP guerrilla ideologue Gustavo Adolfo Porras Castejón in a recollection of the events of the internal armed conflict in his book “Las huellas de Guatemala” (Guatemala’s footprints) stated that: “we have informed Hellen Mack that the person who killed her Sister was not Beteta, but a deserter from URNG nicknamed the Mare“. All of these Twitter accounts were highlighted by the social network.
Undermining the government
Another thing that these Twitter highlighted users share in common is their determination to undermine the current government through smear campaigns and misinformation. Instead of reporting facts, they report opinions, mostly negative ones. Some of them are former government officials, like former Morales’ Government Minister Francisco Manuel Rivas Lara @_FranciscoRivas who let violence escalate through the 2017 demonstrations. Rivas Lara later promoted Semilla’s political propaganda through his Twitter account, and posted publications in defense of the illegalities committed by CICIG. He was considered to run as vicepresident of the Semilla party. Former prosecutor and former Superintendent of the Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT), Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa @foppaguate is well known for his use of the office to prosecute any opposition, just like Aldana did; pure lawfare. When Foppa was asked about the hiring of Cuban national José Ernesto Ramírez Ruiz, he admitted blatantly that he had hired him for Q50,000.00 per month (around $6,493.50 USD) and miraculously, it was reported in elPeriódico that José Ernesto Ramírez Ruiz belonged to Cuban intelligence, that he was in charge of creating an illegal office for the prosecution of the opposition.
Both Francisco Manuel Rivas Lara @_FranciscoRivas and Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa @foppaguate are highlighted Twitter users. It is worth noting that Solórzano Foppa’s mother, Silvia Solórzano Foppa, a far-left activist for the Soros founded “Committee for Peasant Unity” (CUC) and allegedly part of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), took part in a demonstration against Israel, painting a Nazi swastika over its flag and burning it in downtown Guatemala on November 2012:
Ideologues and lawyers
Twitter also highlights some of the most prominent lawyers and ideologues from the left, such as the sister of far-left activist Lucia Carolina Escobar Mejia @liberalucha, Claudia Lissette Escobar Mejía de Fernández @ClaudiaEJueza who is well known for her work changing the narrative of the Bitkov case, placing the blame on the victims of n illegal documents network and not in the networks itself in order to avoid uncovering all the corruption behind CICIG. She is a fellow of the National Endowment For Democracy and her CV was in the list of candidates for the Public Council of International Experts (PCIE) for preventing and countering corruption under international treaties of Ukraine (I guess Biden would like to have her services). She isn’t shy to share her closeness to WOLA, Paz y Paz, Norma Torres, etc.:
Also part of the Twitter Highlights are lawyer Alejandro José Balsells Conde @Alex_balsells who got a contract from the government Ombudsman office to redact the proposal of Constitutional Reforms under the guidance of the UN Commission CICIG, a proposal that failed to pass in congress, a close friend of Michelle Mendoza and to the Semilla political party. Zully Karin Slowing Umaña @karin_slowing_u a former government official and columnists in Plaza Publica and Ofelia Carolina Escobar Sarti @Cescobarsarti, left-wing activist, writer and Plaza Publica columnist, are also part of the Twitter Highlights.
The institutions
The accounts for the Guatemalan Congress @CongresoGuate, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal @TSEGuatemala, the Guatemalan Judiciary @OJGuatemala, and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Guatemala @CC_Guatemala are well promoted through Twitter Highlights, being included 58 times altogether, and above them is the account for the US Embassy in Guatemala @usembassyguate with 49 highlighted tweets, taking the 4th place in the list. In 33rd position is the former Embassador of the US in Guatemala Todd D. Robinson from Dominican origin, with 5 tweets highlighted by Twitter. Robinson is well known for stating that he didn’t care about Guatemala sovereignty, for his left-wing activism, for his closeness to local far-left groups in Guatemala, for using the media in his favor, for insulting four congress man calling them “idiots” for lobbying to report him. One congressman got his visa revoked by Robinson while he needed to go to the US to bury his son, a US marine.
The excemptions
The only two highlighted users that are the exception of the left-wing bias are the Coffee and Industry Committee @CACIFnoticias, and the center-right Emisoras Unidas presenter and lawyer José Eduardo Valdizán Mendoza @Jevaldiz.
Questions that remain unanswered
In the verge of the silent censorship of the dissidents of the left by big tech, from Google, YouTube to Facebook and Twitter, the most harmful is Twitter where most users get their news and perspectives, the favorite place for journalists and columnists… mostly left-wing of course.
Due to the fact thet Twitter has a monopoly on public discourse, and having proved that Twitter promoted only one of Guatemala’s political parties, How much leverage did Twitter have on Guatemala’s election results? In the USA there is this “myth” that Russian bots meddled in the US elections. In the case of Guatemala, we can clearly see how one social network persistently pushes one particular political party and its ideaology.
Why is it that almost all of the highlighted users are linked one way or another to Soros Open Society Foundations? Which characteristics define who deserves a verified badge and who doesn’t? Who decides who belongs to the highlighted users? And the most important question… If only left-leaning biased news are promoted, How does the common citizen (local and foreign) have the opportunity to learn of a different perspective? Things need to change and owes us a comprehensive explanation. In my personal case, a detailed explanation regarding why my account I was suspended without violating any Twitter rules.
The list of the analyzed Twitter Highlights below and the link to a consolidated and tracking free HTML (because Twitter emails have tracking URLs all over) of all the emails can be viewed by clicking here. If you are a serious journalist who wants to have a copy of the data to be analyzed and verified, you can contact me here: https://frenteporlaverdad.cs.gt/contacto/
Times recommended | User | Summary |
---|---|---|
67 | @mmendoza_GT | CNN far-left activist |
62 | @nomadagt | Soros founded media |
54 | @PlazaPublicaGT | Soros founded media |
49 | @usembassyguate | US Embassy |
47 | @JordanRodas | Guatemala’s Ombudsman with far-left ties |
34 | @DarwinHK | Spanish Spanish origin analyst for Dionisio Gutierrez |
27 | @ONUGuatemala | UN in Guatemala |
25 | @msemillagt | Far-left political party |
25 | @JLFont001 | Far-left journalist |
21 | @revolufashion | Far-left journalist |
20 | @ThelmaAldana | Former Attorney General and former presidental candidate of Semilla |
20 | @CongresoGuate | Guatemala Congress |
18 | @dfernandezg | Former Guatemalan Soros Foundation partner and journalist |
18 | @samuel_pz | Secretary General of Semilla |
17 | @justiciayagt | Far-left demonstration group |
17 | @foppaguate | Former prosecutor, former tax office head with links with Cuban inteligence |
16 | @CACIFnoticias | Business committee, the most welthy people in Guatemala |
15 | @TSEGuatemala | Supreme Electoral Tribunal in charge of elections |
13 | @CC_Guatemala | Constitutional Court of Guatemala |
12 | @cmendeza | Far-left journalist |
12 | @ElBencho_tv | Far-left journalist |
10 | @AEU_OliverioCDL | Far-left “students” organization |
10 | @OJGuatemala | Judicial System |
9 | @Jevaldiz | The only center-right account in the list |
9 | @HelenMackCh | Far-left leader and activist |
8 | @JkSandoval_ | Center-left journalist |
7 | @_FranciscoRivas | former minister of government with ties to far-left groups |
7 | @hernandezmack | Far-left leader and activist |
7 | @ChepeZamora | Far-left journalist |
6 | @concriteriogt | Center-left journalist |
6 | @lfvalenzuela | Center-left journalist |
5 | @fundamyrnamack | Far-left foundations sponsored by Soros OSF |
5 | @Digby06 | Former US Embassador |
5 | @pchicola | Analyst for Dionisio Gutierrez |
5 | @hurtadopaola | Analyst for Dionisio Gutierrez |
5 | @UsacEsPueblo | Far-left demonstration group |
4 | @Cescobarsarti | Far-left columnist |
4 | @ClaudiaEJueza | Far-left attorney |
3 | @Alex_balsells | Far-left attorney |
3 | @karin_slowing_u | Far-left columnist |
2 | @PDHgt | Ombudsman office |
2 | @UDEFEGUA | NGO for “human rights” sponsored by Soros OSF |
1 | @CUCGuatemala | Extreme far-left group |
1 | @MarioTaracena | Far-left politician |
1 | @RosalRenzo | Far-left politician, activist and former member of the Soros Foundation Guatemala |
1 | @almazariegos | Center-left journalist with ties to the UNE party |
1 | @PrensaComunitar | Far-left “news” site |
1 | @diariodigitalgt | Center-left news site |
1 | @QuiqueGodoy | Political hitman |
Wow! Grand Slam