Mercenary hackers helped Enrique Pea Nieto win Mexico's 2012 presidential election, according to an imprisoned Colombian hacker who says he was involved. Andrs Seplveda ... claimed he had also helped to manipulate elections in nine countries across Latin America by stealing data, installing malware and creating fake waves of enthusiasm and derision on social media. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, the Colombian - who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence - boasted of his ability to hack into campaign networks and manipulate opinion. "My job was to do actions of dirty war and psychological operations, black propaganda, rumours - the whole dark side of politics that nobody knows exists but everyone can see," the 31-year-old told Bloomberg. Although he was well paid for his work, Seplveda said his primary motive was political. He supported right and centre-right candidates against what he called "dictatorships and socialists governments". In Mexico ... he reportedly had a $600,000 budget, [and] used a "virtual army" of fake Twitter accounts to direct public debate. "When I realized that people believe what the internet says more than reality, I discovered that I had the power to make people believe almost anything," he told Bloomberg. To varying degrees, he said he applied similar tactics in other elections over an eight-year period in in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala. Seplveda is now in jail for hacking crimes related to Colombia's 2014 presidential election.