2 facing 30 years for tweet

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY

A former teacher turned radio commentator and a math tutor who lives with his mother sit in a prison in southern Mexico, facing possible 30-year sentences for terrorism and sabotage in what may be the most serious charges ever brought against anyone using a Twitter social network account.

Prosecutors say the defendants helped cause a chaos of car crashes and panic as parents in the Gulf Coast city of Veracruz rushed to save their children because of false reports that gunmen were attacking schools.

The charges say the messages caused such panic that emergency numbers “totally collapsed because people were terrified.”

Veracruz, the state’s largest city, and the neighboring suburb of Boca del Rio were already on edge after weeks of gunbattles involving drug traffickers.

On Aug. 25, Gilberto Martinez Vera, who works as a low-paid tutor, reportedly opened the floodgates of fear. “My sister-in-law just called me all upset, they just kidnapped five children from the school,” Martinez tweeted.

In fact, no such kidnappings occurred that day. Prosecutors say the rumors were also sent by Maria de Jesus Bravo Pagola, who has worked as a teacher, a state arts official and a radio commentator.