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| - In February 2025, internet users shared a long quote about the reaction of the "rest of the world" to U.S. President Donald Trump's border policy, attributing the text to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Examples of the quote with attribution to Sheinbaum appeared in both Spanish (archived) and English in posts on social media platforms including X (archived), Instagram (archived), and TikTok.
(X user @Anvith_)
One English language version of the quote read in full:
So, you voted to build a wall.
Well, dear Americans, even if you don't understand much about geography, since for you America is your country and not a continent, it is important for you to know, before the first brick is laid, that there are 7 billion people beyond that wall.
But since you don't really know the term "people," we will call them "consumers." There are 7 billion consumers ready to replace their iPhones with Samsung or Huawei devices in less than 42 hours.
They can also replace Levi's with Zara or Massimo Duti.
In less than six months, we can easily stop buying Ford or Chevrolet cars and replace them with Toyota, KIA, Mazda, Honda, Hyundai, Volvo, Subaru, Renault or BMW, which are technically better than the cars they produce. These 7 billion people can also stop subscribing to Direct TV, and we don't want to do that, but we can stop watching Hollywood movies and start watching more Latin American or European productions that have better quality, message, cinematic techniques and content.
Although it may sound incredible, we can skip Disney and go to the Xcaret resort in Cancun, Mexico, Canada or Europe: there are other great destinations in South America, East America and Europe.
And even if you don't believe it, even in Mexico there are better hamburgers than McDonald's and they have better nutritional content.
Has anyone seen pyramids in the United States? In Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Sudan and other countries there are pyramids with incredible civilizations.
Find out where to find the wonders of the ancient and modern world. None of them in the US. Shame on Trump, he would have bought them and sold them!
We know that Adidas exists, not just Nike, and we can start wearing Mexican sneakers like Panam. We know more than you think.
We know, for example, that if these 7 billion consumers don't buy their products, there will be unemployment and their economy will collapse (within the racist wall) to such an extent that they will beg us to tear down this ugly wall.
We didn't want to, but....
You want a wall, you get a wall. Sincerely yours.
In short, there was no evidence to support claims that Sheinbaum was the quote's original author.
We found no evidence of any version of the quote on any of Sheinbaum's official social media accounts, and at the time of this writing no legitimate news organizations had reported that she said it. Google searches for the quote's first line in English and in Spanish returned only social media posts and articles pointing out the lack of evidence for Sheinbaum's authorship.
Rather, the quote appeared to be an example of copypasta — copied-and-pasted text shared online. Variations on the quote appeared with no attribution for years before Sheinbaum took office in 2024. As a result, we've rated the quote as misattributed.
Stack Exchange users (archived) and the French fact-checking outlet Faky pointed out the quote's apparent origin as copypasta, citing examples from 2018 and 2019.
By searching the first line of Spanish language versions of the quote, "Así que votaron para construir un muro," we found numerous even earlier variants in the form of Facebook and Instagram posts (archived) dating to the weeks after Trump first took office in January 2017.
(Facebook user Amilcar Pop)
The edit history of one seemingly earlier Facebook post (archived), dated April 8, 2016, showed that post did not originally include the quote. Rather, the post's author updated the post to add it in 2018.
None of the 2017 posts we examined included any attribution for the quote, whether to Sheinbaum or to any other individual.
However, some (archived) of the Spanish posts from that year did include (archived) an obvious copypasta red flag: They ended with an exhortation to forward the text along to other internet users, reading "Por favor reenviarlo 12 veces mínimo asi por algún medio le llega al engañado pueblo norteamericano" — which roughly translates to "Please forward this at least 12 times so that it can somehow reach the misled American people."
A similar call to action appeared at the end of some of the 2025 examples (archived) of the quote (archived).
Although Sheinbaum was not the original author of the quote about the border wall investigated here, she has made headlines for real quips directed at Trump's policies.
For example, as The Associated Press reported on Jan. 8, 2025, Sheinbaum jokingly addressed Trump's plan to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America by saying the continent of North America should be renamed "América Mexicana" ("Mexican America"). (Trump issued an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America on Jan. 20, the day he was inaugurated as president.)
On Feb. 7, Sheinbaum also responded to news that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had released a document calling for the "total elimination" of cartels by saying, "Let them start with their country."
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