Here's what happened in Mexico (best as I can remember from "Crisis of Conscience"). The Mexican government at the time had compulsory military service for its male citizens of a certain age. The WT Society secretly sent letters to the Mexican leaders of JW's saying they would make it a conscience matter if those brothers bribed government officials to get cards that they had served one year in the military.
Meanwhile in far-away Malawi, with the other side of their mouth, the WT Society forbade their members from purchasing an identification card worth 25 cents that said they belonged to the political party. This would not be a "conscience matter".
So in one place they could buy their way out of problems, and in a far away Malawi they couldn't. The Watchtower wanted to have a cause around which to rally their troops, and the situation in Malawi provided the perfect opportunity.
For more information on this you might check out this web page: http://www.freeminds.org/history/crisis.htm