Seinforma Canada

Carmen Aristegui, who was taken off the air from the historic XEW or W radio, was fired for not wanting to fit in with the new editorial line that is being imposed in the broadcasting company, which now belongs to Televisa and to the Spanish group PRISA, run by the Mexican president’s brother in law.

By Luis Alberto Vázquez/Seinforma Canada Correspondent

Mexico City.- A new year begins for all Mexicans, both for the ones that live in the country and for the ones that, for different reasons, do not. Mexico's true future is still the great majority's concern, for the decisions to be made by misgovernors.
   With Calderon having the power, the scene looks distressing, with profits for minorities and losses for the great majority. This 2008 begins as the year 2007 was left behind: without employment, with a latent future crisis and an even more divided society thanks to its intolerance.
     He is becoming more and more similar to another spurious that, with shameful electoral fraud, came to power, always criticizing Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) for being a traditional priista (member of the PRI political party from Mexico), but he is adopting the same measures against the opposition that Salinas de Gortari took in 1988; Maybe he does not eliminate them physically, but censuring their professional work.
   Such is the case of Carmen Aristegui, who was taken off the air after they refused to renew her contract with the historic XEW or W radio, as it is called nowadays, where she hosted the radio programme, Hoy por Hoy, for five years.

     She was fired for not wanting to fit in with the new editorial line that was being imposed in the firm, which now belongs to Televisa and to the Spanish group PRISA, with whom they share the association.
    In this case, more facts are being put two and two together: A Spanish person, who is in power, leads the Spanish businessmen in Mexico. He did not want Aristegui on the air before he came to power. The order arrives directly from Los Pinos* by order of the LegaL President (PLL) Calderon to the group PRISA, where his brother-in-law is the Director, Juan Ignacio Zavala Gomez del Campo, brother of his wife Margarita and of the sadly well-known Diego Hildebrando, who got his claws into the IFE so that his relative could win the presidency.
   This fact (the electoral fraud) was widely denounced by Aristegui when Hilebrando's work in the database of IFE was found out. That was why with the affiliation of the other Zavala brother (Juan Ignacio) to the corporate group of the Spanish firm, the vendetta against Aristegui and the veracity of her work is being consummated.
    Nevertheless, I do not hear any of her colleagues indignant about this censure in here, taking into account their reaction to the case of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) from Venezuela, when The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, with legal support, decided not to grant them the renewal of the franchise to keep on working as a common good, then they did 'scream blue murder' and branded him as a dictator and a tyrant; but in this case they remain silent or participate in the coup d'état against Freedom of Expression and of The Press that puts Carmen Aristegui down. Chavez and Calderon are not being judged by the same standards, the main element of journalism is being omitted: Objectivity.
   PRISA is also shareholder of another Iberian company dedicated to the publication of textbooks: Santillana, where Juan Ignacio Zavala is in charge of the marketing area that negotiates with Mexico, a really good deal for another family that, while coming to power, begins the division of the country. Calderon and his government give him the contract to buy millions of textbooks to Santillana, where his brother-in-law is part of the member board too and who will get a profitable commission for this arrangement, which will obviously be free of any bidding war, to all the government gives of "The empty-handed" and the full pockets.
   Carmen Aristegui in a recent interview with the Mexican Seminar Proceso, elaborated on the details about her leaving the W Radio. She also talked about what had happened with another presenter from the same station, the journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, who left some months before she did, for the same reasons.
   He did not accept to have the control over the publishing contents from his informative space taken away, and finished his contract with the W to start working for Radio Formula. At that moment, both Aristegui and Loret de Mola agreed that she stayed in the firm as she did not have other spaces of work rather than her interview programme, "Aristegui", transmitted by cable in CNN in Spanish, whereas Loret did have his news programme during the mornings in National TV, on channel 2 from Televisa. But after deciding Aristegui's stay in W Radio, Televisa struck on the newscast again, and the broadcast done by SKY was cancelled. The company claimed it had been due to technical problems, but this "technical problems" lasted until the last broadcasting of the news programme.
   Aristegui continued with W Radio to show her gratitude to the firm PRISA, for having defended her for so long when Televisa wanted her out. PRISA, as the journalist said, has always supported her in difficult times. Aristegui mentioned that, during a reunion in Valle de Bravo, when the supreme court was discussing about the unconstitutional properties of the law of radio and television, one of the executive directors of Televisa complained airily to the directives of PRISA against Carmen's interference on the subject, pleading that her critics about the duo political control expected by the two main television networks on the country meant more than a "betrayal" to them. According to the director's explanation, Televisa was analyzing the breaking-off of the contract with the Spanish businessmen because they could not tolerate anymore Carmen Aristegui's "betrayal".
     Keeping with the journalist's declaration, it was months of cut and thrust amongst the companies for the convenience of the stay in the consortium, until PRISA finally gave way and accepted hiring another brother-in-law of Calderon, Juan Ignacio Zavala, as a member of the board.
   This was another factor for not renewing Carmen's contract. Now the pressure was not only coming from Televisa, but also directly from Los Pinos*. It was not convenient anymore, for the Spanish persons, to receive complaints from the Presidency, the interests of the biggest television network in Latin-America and the Mexican Government were already being hurt, so PRISA decided not to renew Aristegui's contract unless she accepted the new editorial changes imposed in the company. The presenter's answer is already known by the public opinion; Carmen did not accept and was fired from W Radio in between critics from colleagues and intellectuals, who were joined in a sign of support towards Carmen.
   Calderon's government did not say a word about it, not even to confirm the position of the president's brother-in-law. And Televisa published a spread in the main newspapers and seminars of national circulation, to say they had nothing to do with the decision made by the Spanish company of not renewing the contract. The most interesting part in here is that Televisa, in its main spaces of information and analysis, condemned the decision of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, by not renewing the franchise to Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), called him a dictator and a tyrant, and criticized him for not guaranteeing the Freedom of Expression in his government.
   Calderon's government also showed its dissatisfaction, through diplomatic channels, for the decision made by Chavez. Televisa and Calderon gave a sample of the double speech they use. They criticize undemocratic attitudes of other nations or from their Heads of State, and in here, in their own countries they carry them out, and in a cynic way, which is even worse because the Rule of Law that Calderon proclaims so much was disobeyed: the money, the church, the Federal Government and some State Governments were intervened for this decision to be made.
    As it can be seen, lots of interests were being touched and it would not favour anyone, so, again, what was damaged was the Democracy, that democracy in which we are supposed to live under and that is being beaten every day by the powers that be.

*Official residence of the President of Mexico.