So, a few months after the RightWing candidate was fraudulently designated president by Mexico's electoral judicial body (TEPJF), a growing number of Mexicans believe that fraud took place during the elections. According to an El Universal poll published on December 1, 42% of Mexicans believe this, a growing number compared with the figure in August.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/...
Existe una gran cantidad de mexicanos (42%) que opinan que en las elecciones del pasado 2 de julio hubo fraude electoral. Son menos que el 46% que considera que no fue así, pero ambas posturas constituyen casi la misma proporción.
Hay que destacar que el porcentaje de encuestados por esta casa editorial que opinan que hubo fraude aumentó de la encuesta realizada en agosto a la actual.
While a growing number of Mexicans believe the elections to be fraudulent, the government is doing everything it can to tamp down the Centrist movement of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Jorge Ramos is the lead anchor of Univision Network News, the leading source of Spanish-language news in the US. He's a Mexican national who left the country because of censorship imposed upon him when he worked at Televisa. He was in Mexico to cover the "inauguration" of Calderon, and was dismayed with what he saw.
In an op-ed titled, "Calderon: Through the Back Door", Ramos laments the fact that the two primary sources of news for most Mexicans, Televisa and TV Azteca, did not cover the hundreds of thousands of AMLO supporters who marched with him from the Zocalo to the edge of Chapultepec Park, where the fraud was taking place.
http://www.univision.com/...
El primer discurso
Mientras Felipe Calderón se dirigía al Auditorio Nacional para dar su primer discurso oficial, decenas de miles de perredistas protestaban en la Avenida Reforma. Pero esas imágenes no fueron vistas por la mayoría de los mexicanos. En las pantallas de televisión había programas de cocina y telenovelas.
Tuve la oportunidad de hablar con varios de esos manifestantes y estaban enfurecidos con nosotros, los periodistas.
"Digan la verdad", me exigían. "¿Por qué no muestran lo que está pasando en las calles?" Tenían razón: esas marchas eran noticia en cualquier parte del mundo. Los titulares mundiales del día siguiente lo confirmaron.
López Obrador y sus seguidores no existieron durante esas horas críticas para muchos medios de comunicación en México. Fueron ignorados con la falsa idea de que, al no hacerles caso, desaparecerían de la opinión pública. Pero no van a desaparecer.
Ignorar esas marchas es mal periodismo y, además, peligroso.
Roughly translated, the excerpt above reads....
The First Speech
While Calderon made his way to Auditorio Nacional to deliver his first official speech, tens of thousands of PRDistas protested on Reforma Avenue. But these images were not seen by the majority of Mexicans. On their TV screens you would find soap operas and cooking programs.
I had the opportunity to speak with several protesters, and they were enraged with us, the journalists.
"Tell the truth", they demanded. "Why don't you show what is happening on the streets?" They were correct: these marches were being televised everywhere else in the world. The next day's headlines confirmed this.
AMLO and his followers did not exist during those critical hours to the Mexican media. They were ignored under the false notion that, by not paying attention to them, they would disappear in the realm of public opinion. But they will not disappear.
To ignore the marches was bad journalism, and, furthermore, dangerous.
Guadalupe Loaeza, a liberal columnist, offers a similar description of the day's events.
http://www.reforma.com/...
Seguramente Diane nunca querrá trabajar para CNN porque, curiosamente, al mismo tiempo, en ese canal Harris Whitbeck corresponsal de CNN con sede en América Latina, se encontraba cubriendo otra toma de posesión totalmente distinta. El periodista de CNN en español sí daba cuenta de los trancazos entre los legisladores, sí se escuchaba preocupado por lo que estaba presenciando. Él nunca habló de un salón de "sesiones en calma". Qué divertido e interesante resultaba estar cambiando constantemente de canal, entre los de la cadena nacional y CNN. Porque mientras para la televisión oficial no existía el México del Zócalo ni López Obrador ni mucho menos el de los pobres, para CNN era fundamental mostrar las dos realidades de esos momentos.
No, para Diane, todo estaba perfecto, todo sucedía con gran armonía y en paz. Todo México estaba feliz por la toma de protesta de Calderón. No había ni un ápice de oposición. Para Diane y sus patrones, México era Foxilandia, era un país en el cual sus habitantes presenciaban embelesados una tersa y civilizada transmisión de poderes. Eran tan conmovedores sus comentarios que, la verdad, no daban ganas de cambiarle a CNN. ¡Qué aguafiestas resultaba Harris Whitbeck! ¿Qué necesidad de mostrarnos tan rijosos y descontentos?
Roughly translated.
Surely, Diane will never work for CNN, because, curiously, at the same time, on that channel, Harris Witbeck, correspondent for CNN Latin America, was covering a completely different swearing in ceremony. As the CNN correspondent described the scuffle between the lawmakers, one heard how concerned he was over what he was witnessing. He never described a "calm session", as Diane did. How entertaining and interesting it was to change the channel, between Televisa/Azteca, and CNN. Because, while for Televisa/Azteca the Mexico of the Zocalo and AMLO did not exist, nor did the poverty, for CNN it was imperative to show the two realities of that moment.
No, for Diane, everything was perfect, everything took place in great harmony and peace. All of Mexico was happy with Calderon's "inauguration". There was not one bit of opposition. For Diane and her bosses, Mexico was Foxiliandia, a country whose citizens were captivated by the terse and civilized transfer of power. Her comments were so moving that I almost did not want to change the channel back to CNN. What a party-pooper Harris Witbeck had become. Was it really necessary for him to show us the discontent among us.
Finally, I should also note that Jose Gutierrez Vivo, an internationally respected anchor of Grupo Monitor denounces government censorship.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/...
En la ceremonia de entrega de los Premios Nacionales de Periodismo, que cada año realiza el Club de Periodistas de México, AC, José Gutiérrez Vivó, director general de Grupo Monitor, reveló ayer que, antes del cambio en la Presidencia, recibió un mensaje del equipo entrante: "están castigados. Vamos a ver cómo se comportan. Si quieren difundir nuestra información, bien; si no, también. Cuando consideremos que hay un buen comportamiento, entonces se arreglará una entrevista con el presidente Calderón".
En el marco del 36 certamen que realiza el Club de Periodistas de México desde la década de los 50, y en el que fueron entregados premios a La Jornada y a algunos de sus colaboradores, Gutiérrez Vivó sostuvo que nunca antes, en sus 40 años de comunicador, "había percibido una agresión perfectamente disfrazada y disimulada como la que estamos recibiendo desde mediados de la pasada administración".
Roughly translated
In the Annual National Newspaper Awards Ceremony, which takes place in the National Press Club, Jose Gutierrez Vivo, CEO of Grupo Monitor, revealed that, just before the transfer of power, he received a message from the incoming president: "you are under probation. We will see how you behave yourself. If you want to disseminate our information, fine; if not, so be it. When we judge that you are behaving appropriately, then we will facilatate an interview with the president."
During the 36th awards ceremony that has taken place in the National Press Club of Mexico since the 50s, and in which La Jornada and a few of its reporters were recognized , Gutierrez Vivo declared that never, during his 40 years as a journalist, has he "perceived such agression so perfectly disguised.
Even RightWing columnist, Ricardo Alemán, a Calderon Sycophant, concedes that there may be some form of censorship.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/...
El "pecado" de Gutiérrez Vivó fue liberarse del yugo de los poderosos grupos de la radio y pretender obtener sus propias concesiones; no someterse a las grandes familias de "los intocables" y no rendirse a los dictados del poder en turno, sean del PRI o del PAN. Pero los intentos oficiales y empresariales por "ahorcar" económicamente a Gutiérrez Vivó no son producto de una disputa legal entre particulares o un desencuentro con el poder escenario que de suyo niega el cacareado estado de derecho, sino que son una vergonzosa muestra de que los poderes oficiales y fácticos que antaño se negaban a la apertura de los medios y a la democracia mexicana, hoy usan esa democracia para destruir a quienes abrieron los espacios a la pluralidad, la crítica y la libertad de expresión.
The "sin" of Gutierrz Vivo was liberating himself from the yoke of powerful interest groups and attempting to secure his own concessions; not submitting to the "untouchable" families, and not yielding to the dictates of power, be they PRI or PAN. But the attempts by government officials and businessmen to economically "aphyxiate" Gutierrez Vivo is not a result of a legal dispute or a misunderstading with those in power, but rather an embarrassing dispaly of government and fanatical power that in the past denied press freedom, today these forces use democracy to destroy those who ushered into Mexico plarality, criticism, and freedom of expression.
As Centrists and Progressives, we must do all we can to ensure that others know what is happening south of the border. As a Mexican-American with dual-citizenship, I am very disturbed Calderon's reactionary regime. The Right in Mexico is FAR more Reactionary than its counterpart here, and MUCH more conservative than even Fox's regime.
One example. Late last year, Fox's Secretary of Health was attacked by Extremist elements in the PAN for making available the morning-after pill. Three weeks ago, RightWing Calderon chose the champion of these extremist elements, Angel Cordoba, as his Secretary of Health. Not even Bush would dare nominate someone as Extremist as Angel Cordoba as his Secretary of Health.