Last month a honeymooner’s Facebook post became a viral sensation. But when Rory Carroll headed to Cancún, he found a story that didn’t hold water

It was an eye-popping story which lit up the internet: American college kids running wild in Mexico by braying “build the wall” to affronted Mexicans.

The party hordes who filled Cancún’s bars and beaches for spring break last month were apparently mixing tequila with Donald Trump Kool-Aid and insulting their hosts.

A Peruvian vacationer blew the whistle in a Facebook post, recounting how a group of Americans chanted the slogan during a cruise.

The story ricocheted around blogs and news sites illustrated with images of bare-chested, bikini-clad bacchanals around the Yucatan peninsula. Commentators weighed in, most condemning the spring breakers as embarrassing ambassadors of Trumpism. Others lauded them for giving Mexico a taste of the “bad behaviour” undocumented immigrants brought to the United States.

Trump? The breakers don’t really mention him. If they do it’s usually to say ‘fuck Trump’ Jesus Bat

There is, however, a complication. The story is largely false. There is no xenophobic surge in Cancún.

“Trump? The breakers don’t really mention him,” said Jesus Bat, 25, out one recent night handing flyers for Divas nightclub. “If they do it’s usually to say ‘fuck Trump’.”

Mario Quijano, manager of the Caribbean Carnival cruise, agreed. “If politics comes up they usually say they didn’t vote for him. People are here to have a good time.”

Interviews with almost two dozen bouncers, barmen, cleaners, waiters and other service staff yielded similar responses: none had encountered Trump-tinged sentiments, spotted Make America Great caps or heard chants about the wall. Few had even heard of the incident on the cruise ship – including people who work on it. “News to me,” said Michel Rosales, 27, who plays Captain Hook on the pirate-themed excursions.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Josephine Berrick , a student from Indiana, on spring break in Cancún. Photograph: Rory Carroll/THE GUARDIAN

Interviews with spring breakers revealed bewilderment that anyone here would chant about sealing the border. “That’s crazy. That’s disrespectful,” said Josephine Berrick, 18, from Indiana, after disembarking from the pirate tour.

Christian Portale, 21, agreed. “Dumb. Disrespectful,” he said, sipping a cocktail at the bar Fat Tuesday. His friend Eriq Gloria, 20, an engineering student, said the only Trump reference he had encountered was a nightclub hawker who joked about not giving discounts. “He said he needed the money to build the wall.”

Such bonhomie is a far cry from the perception of America-first boorishness. But in an era of hyper-polarisation, fake news and alternative facts, it was an irresistible cocktail.

It began on 7 March when Anaximandro Amable Burga, a Peruvian who was on honeymoon with his Mexican wife Sully, posted on Facebook a searing critique of fellow passengers on the pirate cruise.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Christian Portale (left) and Eriq Gloria, in Cancún, seemed bewildered that anyone would chant about building a wall. ‘That’s crazy.’ Photograph: Rory Carroll/THE GUARDIAN

“A flock of Americans (it’s not clear whether they were drunk or in ‘full’ use of their faculties) started to sing the vomitous chant ‘build the wall’.” Amable blamed it on hated inspired by Trump, whom he compared to Hitler.

Several sites picked up on the post, including the Yucatan Times which condemned the incident. “This is just one of the many blameworthy behaviors that young spring breakers have shown recently in Cancún and that are described as acts of xenophobia and discrimination against Mexicans within their own country, which is (or should be) totally unacceptable.”

The story took off. The Mail Online, the Huffington Post and San Diego Union Tribune, among others, repeated the claims.

The Drudge Report, a powerful news aggregator popular with conservatives, linked to the Yucatan Times article with some commenters hailed the tourists for avenging alleged Mexican loutishness in the US.

Leftwing outlets, in contrast, thrummed with indignation.

“It’s one of the most embarrassing times to be an American,” Ana Kasparian, a presenter on the Young Turks, said in a segment labelled “chant believe it”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The tourist pirate ship in Cancún where spring breakers allegedly chanted ‘build the wall’. Photograph: Rory Carroll/THE GUARDIAN

A parody site got in on the act by portraying a rant by Hitler in the film Downfall as a response to spring breakers’ effrontery.

And then, almost as suddenly as it flared, the story went dark. The media moved onto fresh outrages.

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Amable, the Peruvian tourist, did not respond to requests for elaboration. Over two days the Guardian interviewed 11 cast members, some on shore, others in costume on one of the company’s three ships. Eight said they were unaware of any incident with spring breakers. Three said they had heard of an incident but witnessed nothing firsthand. Maybe the chant was brief and happened without cast members present, they speculated.

Told of Amable’s account of the chanters, one performer bristled. “I’d have thrown them to the sharks.”

Ted Campbell, author of a guide book about the peninsula, said he saw no Trump-inspired behaviour or Make America Great hats during a two-week visit to Cancún in January on the eve of the president’s inauguration. “Nothing. It was peak season, a million Americans.”

Even so, he was not surprised when friends in Canada and Europe shared the story. “People want to believe that young Americans come to Mexico and do this. That’s the new media, that’s why things go viral.”

Social media has deepened the murk. An anonymous commenter on YouTube claiming to be one of the pirate ship performers said the chants were ironic – that the spring breakers were expressing hope the wall would keep them in Mexico, partying forever.