For everything there were answers and clarifications from Renave through the media, but the crisis prevention system was beginning to be exceeded; For example, a press conference called by the company in Hermosillo, with the presence of the Secretary of the State Government, was canceled hours before by the government itself without prior notice to the company. At the time, Cavallo confided in his Public Relations executive that duplicate vehicle registrations leaving the factory were beginning to be detected, and that he had been threatened because the system would impact a multi-million dollar business (the export of stolen cars).
The threat became a reality when on August 24 it was published in the Reforma newspaper that Cavallo had been part of the dictatorial regime in Argentina and was responsible for genocide. He was detained and arrested in the Reclusorio Oriente in Mexico City.
Many times a communication crisis is considered to be over when damage control begins to be executed. The problem, in this case, was that, while that control was being operated, new elements emerged that implicated Cavallo and questioned Renave’s management, among them: hiring undocumented migrants, an improvised auditor and even a son out of wedlock with a employee of the company itself.
Many believe that a communication crisis ends when damage control has been done. Fake! Two weeks after Cavallo’s arrest, the media reported the suicide of Secofi’s Undersecretary, under strange circumstances. The following week, on September 15, the registration of the cars in Renave was revoked and the concessionaire was intervened by the government.
In summary: this brief synthesis of a story from 22 years ago and that had many variables, teaches us that prevention systems are not always sufficient to alert and, where appropriate, deal with a communication crisis, and that, when starting a new project , it is advisable to develop possible scenarios that could be faced, while considering among them the worst that could happen.
Publisher’s note: Mario Maraboto Moreno has a degree in Journalism from UNAM. He is a Research Associate at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of the book “Journalism and Business. How to link companies with journalists.” Consultant in Communication, Public Relations and special situations/crisis since 1991. Write to his email [email protected] and follow him on Twitter . The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
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