On Thursday, September 20, 2012 the Mexican president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto [1], started a visit to Chile, the fourth country in his first tour across Central and South America.
After a private dinner with President Sebastián Piñ [2]era [2], the next morning he had a meeting with Chile's main businessmen and later he paid an official visit to the Moneda Palace. Peña Nieto thanked President Piñera for the hospitality on his Twitter account (@EPN [3]) [es]:
@EPN [4]: Agradezco al Presidente @sebastianpinera [5] su hospitalidad y la productiva reunión. Nuestra relación con Chile seguirá siendo estratégica.
@EPN [4]: I thank President @sebastianpinera [5] for his hospitality and productive meeting. Our relationship with Chile will continue to be strategic.
Nonetheless, not everything was conferences, handshakes and protocol. Members of the #YoSoy132 [6] movement in Chile denounced the arrest [7] [es] of six of their peers – one of them from Mexican origin [8] [es]– for protesting at the Moneda Plaza against the visit of the President-elect.
Meanwhile on Twitter, Chilean netizens welcomed the next Mexican leader with the hashtag #VetedeChilePeñaNieto [9] [es] (“leave Chile Peña Nieto”). Mexican netizens answered back to this hashtag, creating an exchange that turned the hashtag into a trending topic. The comments varied from support to the student movements in both countries, to jokes and sarcastic remarks regarding the meeting of two of the most controversial politicians in Latin America these days. Here we collected some of these responses:
The Chilean Max Barata (@MaxBarata [10]) [es] joked:
[11]“What would you ask the imposed President on his arrival to Chile?” Image shared by @YoSoy132chile on Twitter
@MaxBarata [12]: Piñera y Peña Nieto. Falta Lex Luthor y Darth Vader y le ponemos “Cumbre”.
@MaxBarata [12]: Piñera and Peña Nieto. We are missing Lex Luthor and Darth Vader to call it a “Summit”
While Chascas Valenzuela (@elchascas [13]) [es] imagined how the encounter between the two leaders could be:
@elchascas [14]: Un diálogo entre Peña Nieto y Piñera debe ser como un sketch de humor. Los dos hablando de pobreza, helicópteros y golf al mismo tiempo.
@elchascas [14]: A dialogue between Peña Nieto and Piñera must be like a humor sketch. The two of them talking about poverty, helicopters and golf at the same time.
The parody account of journalist Carmen Aristegui (@Aristegui_CNN [15]) [es] was direct:
@Aristegui_CNN [16]: #VetedeChilePeñaNieto [17] ¡No! ¡Que se quede allá! ¡Se lo regalamos!
@Aristegui_CNN [16]: #VetedeChilePeñaNieto [17] No! Make him stay there! You can have him for free!
To what Alonso Damian (@AlonsoDamian [18]) [es] from Iquique, Chile answered:
@AlonsoDamian [19]: @Aristegui_CNN [20] no gracias! les mandamos a Piñera si gustan
@AlonsoDamian [19]: @Aristegui_CNN [20] no thank you! We can send Piñera over if you want
From Mexico, the Judicial and Human Rights Committee 132 (@ComiteDH132 [21]) [es] made this comparison:
@ComiteDH132 [22]: Si acaso, la única diferencia entre el pinochetismo y el priismo es que acá, en efecto, la dictadura fue perfecta…
#VeteDeChilePeñaNieto [23]
@ComiteDH132 [22]: If anything, the only difference between pinochetism [24] and priism [25] is that here, in fact, it was the perfect dictatorship… #VeteDeChilePeñaNieto [23]
Meanwhile Gaby (@Gigi_091 [26]) [es] denounced:
@Gigi_091 [27]: Las protestas en Chile en contra de Peña Nieto ¿Tampoco son noticia Televisa? pero si es noticia un apagón en la Cámara de Diputados…
@Gigi_091 [27]:The protests in Chile against Peña Nieto are not news for Televisa? But a blackout at the Congress is…
And Enrique J. Bautista (@kmach02 [28]) [es] from Tabasco, Mexico spoke about the bond that some netizens from both countries felt through this online protest:
@kmach02 [28]: #VetedeChilePeñaNieto [17] y ese día Chile y México se sintieron mas hermanos que nunca…ellos peleando por educación y nosotros por Imposición
@kmach02: [28] #VetedeChilePeñaNieto [17] and that day Chile and Mexico felt they were more brothers than ever… they are fighting for education and we are fighting against the imposition