The “authoritarian storm” in Mexico

For some time, media columnists, especially those so-called "market analysts"—a fictitious name for the spokespeople of rentiers—fawned over Mexico. The neoliberal government of that country, completely subservient to the US through the neocolonial agreement of 'NAFTA', was treated as modernizing and innovative. In last year's election campaign, the faltering Aécio Neves—the politician who parrots everything the media vomits—even suggested that the Mexican model would be the best for Brazil. Shortly after, this poor nation went into a tailspin. The economy stagnated, and numerous corruption scandals exploded. Faced with this chaos, the mainstream media simply wiped this country off the map.

Last week, new reports confirmed the nonsense spread by the venal media and repeated by the subservient members of the PSDB party. Besides mired in economic crisis and sinking into corruption, Mexico is experiencing a dangerous authoritarian storm, according to the international organization Article-19, which works to defend freedom of expression. In its report, the organization states that a reporter is threatened or attacked every day in that country. The "modern" president, Henrique Peña Nieto, exerts strong pressure on the media. Meanwhile, the local media barons, committed to the core to the implementation of the neoliberal project, avoid criticizing the government, censor, and fire journalists.

The grim diagnosis released by Article 19 is not surprising. The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, had already reported 656 attacks against journalists in the country over the past two years. In 2014, there were 142 physical attacks, 53 intimidations, and 45 arbitrary detentions – six of these episodes resulted in deaths. According to Article 19, the attacks are more common in the interior of the country, involve the army and the police, and produce more victims than organized crime. A recent example is that of journalist Moisés Sánchez, from Veracruz, murdered in January, allegedly on the orders of Governor Javier Duarte de Sánchez.

In a recent report in Folha de S.Paulo, reporter Sylvia Colombo gave more details about this “authoritarian whirlwind.” She recalled the case of Carmen Aristegui, “the most important journalist in the country,” who was fired from radio station MVS. “The station is part of a media conglomerate that also owns cable TV, an internet provider, and print media… With her team of 17 journalists, all also fired now, Carmen Aristegui had brought to light the revelation that the country's first lady, telenovela actress Angélica Rivera, had bought a mansion from a businessman who secured generous contracts with the government.” 

“The scandal helped to undermine the popularity of Enrique Peña Nieto, which had already been declining since the disappearance of 43 students in the state of Guerrero last September, in an action apparently orchestrated by local authorities and drug traffickers. According to a poll published last week by the newspaper 'Reforma', disapproval of Peña Nieto's administration is at 57% of the population. 'He is on the ropes, he no longer has the support he had achieved in Congress with the Pact for Mexico, he has lost popular backing and has shown himself to be out of control in the face of regional authorities associated with the cartels. He also has no one to support him abroad,' said Aristegui.”

Even the pro-PSDB newspaper Folha, which previously fawned over Mexico's "modernizing" government, is now indignant about the "authoritarian whirlwind." Perhaps it should request a strong condemnation of Peña Nieto's neoliberal government from the mafia-like Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), which brings together the main media barons of Latin America. It could also swallow its venom regarding the restrictions on freedom of expression in Brazil. As for the ever-present "columnists," who have always fawned over Mexico, they could do an internship in that neoliberal paradise.