Veracruz residents shot down drones believing they were spreading COVID

The SSP confirmed that the equipment was used by members of the State Commission for the Search for Disappeared Persons

The disinformation is one of the biggest problems facing today’s society, especially during the pandemic the COVID-19: rumors, lies and myths urban generated fears that overlap with scientific knowledge, hindering from the right to life or health, even humanitarian actions.

The latter was reflected last Wednesday when residents of the Soledad Atzompa municipality, in Veracruz, shot down two drones that were flying over the demarcation, guided by the rumor that the devices were spreading, through a liquid, the SARS Cov-2 virus.

Fearing, the residents of the Tepepechco neighborhood located the owners and cornered them, and deprived them of their freedom with the threat of burning them alive.

The mob was such that neither the State Police nor the National Guard (GN) were able to control it, because, when trying to dialogue with the protesters, they responded with attacks and damage to several of the vehicles; some elements were also subdued by the contingent.

Thus, after several hours of conversations, the protesters released the victims, who were taken to a hospital, where they were admitted as sensitive individuals due to the attacks they received.

Approximately five police vehicles were destroyed in the mobs, who tried to incinerate them. (Photo: Twitter @lulu_reportera)

However, the reality of the situation is that both men participated in an operation to locate clandestine graves , as part of the actions of the State Commission for the Search for Disappeared Persons. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Security (SSP) confirmed that the device was their property.

This was reaffirmed by Cuitláhuac García Jiménez, Governor of the State, who, in a press conference, assured that the attacks were the result of a misunderstanding, since the body did not notify the community of its activities, which unleashed in said behaviors that the ruler justified .“A search had been planned, but no notice was requested. (…) It was a misunderstanding. One, because it is not warned. It has to be notified. (…) I myself in my house, if I see a drone, then I see how I lower it; to stones. Obviously, how can you not bother people? Why are you putting a drone on top of my house? So they have to notify ”.

“I myself in my house, if I see a drone, well I see how I lower it; with stones,” said the governor after the events. (Photo: Twitter @lulu_reportera)

It should be remembered that this is not the first time that technological equipment is designated as an alleged transport to spread COVID-19 in Mexico: in May 2020, residents of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, in Chiapas, knocked down a drone accusing that the State Government used it to distribute the virus through a powder that ” dries out the lungs .”

The nonconformists would have been alerted by a message on Facebook which detailed that the “chemical attack” was intended to affect the Tzotzil ethnic group, in addition to denying the existence of the disease in the town.

However, state authorities rejected this information and clarified that the substance was used during the sanitation work – which they would have carried out since the arrival of the pandemic in the country.

These events show only a small part of what the World Health Organization ( WHO ) refers to as an infodemic: an overabundance of information, which, in addition to causing damage to health, increases stigmatization and affects non – compliance with health protection measures. public health.

For this reason, the body urged governments and the media to respond to this problem through the promotion of scientific data, mainly among high-risk groups and communities: “Always respecting freedom of expression,” he stressed.

Veracruz Daily Post