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BuzzFeed: Facebook Impostor Helped Organize Migrant Caravan

HeadlineDec 07, 2018

In immigration news, BuzzFeed News reports that an unknown impostor stole the online identity of a prominent Honduran activist in order to organize the migrant caravan that became a central issue for President Trump and Republicans in the U.S. midterm elections. The activist, Bartolo Fuentes, says he hasn’t gotten any answers from Facebook about who stole his identity or how many messages were sent by the impostor account. But Fuentes’s identity was apparently central to a sophisticated campaign that organized the largest migrant caravan in history, with some 7,000 Central Americans participating at its peak. President Trump blasted the caravan as a horde of “invaders” and used the issue as a wedge to drum up support for Republican candidates. And Vice President Mike Pence used the caravan to lash out at Venezuela and “leftist groups.”

Vice President Mike Pence: “What the president of Honduras told me is that the caravan was organized by leftist organizations, political activists within Honduras, and he said it was being funded by outside groups, and even from Venezuela. And so, the American people, I think, see through this. They understand this is not a spontaneous caravan of vulnerable people, but it was organized by human traffickers and leftist groups.”

Pence was speaking on Fox News. This comes as Facebook is under fire for failing to prevent Russia and other foreign governments from operating phony accounts to sway the U.S. electorate.

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