Borderland
Beat, posted by Pepe Republished from Vice News.
Pepe;
After
reading about this in the local Mexican newspaper here, I started searching the
internet for photos of the delivery of t.v.'s. I found some I posted
here. Then I searched for any stories in English, and this ViceNews
article was right there from today. The article in the link has more photos,
too
On a recent Saturday in November,
housewife Berenice Serra emerged in the midday sun from an auditorium doubling
as a government distribution point in Morelia, capital of the western Mexican
state of Michoacan.
In one arm she clutched her
one-year-old son, in the other a large cardboard box emblazoned with the
government's current official slogan, "Mover a Mexico"—Moving Mexico.
Stored inside was a brand-new digital television, completely free, direct from
the government.
A host of other families were
cradling identical cardboard boxes, part of a $1.9-billion government campaign
aimed at making sure every household in Mexico has a digital television before
the government switches from analog to digital open TV signals at the end of
2015.
"This is a step
forward," Serra told VICE News as she waited for a bus to take her on a one-hour
ride back to her working-class Morelia neighborhood.
"The old TVs aren't going to
work anymore and this gives us the opportunity, even those of us with few
resources, to watch the programs we like: news, soap operas, and cartoons for
the children," she said.
All over the country similar
scenes will take place over the next year.
Mexico's government is handing
out a total of 13 million digital television sets, officials said, gratis, to
poor Mexicans already subscribed in federal welfare programs. The TV handout is
part of a wider telecommunications reform package passed by Mexico's congress
in July.
But critics say the program is a
blatant electioneering ploy, one that reminds people of the "old
days" of clien More than half of the TVs are being distributed before or
during the summer 2015 mid-term election season, in which Mexicans will vote on
nine governors, 500 legislators, and 718 leaders of municipalities.
. Mexican parties of all colors
are well known for handing out gifts for political ends.
But the PRI has been particularly
linked to the practice, despite its efforts to present itself as a
"new" party since the 2012 election of Enrique Peña Nieto. That race
brought the PRI back to power, just 12 years after it was booted from a 70-year
grip on Mexico's government.
Now the prospect of millions of
grateful voters receiving TVs from a PRI government around election time is
ringing alarm bells among opposition voices like Juan Pablo Adame Aléman, a
congressman with the center-right National Action Party, or PAN. Adame heads
the digital and information technology agenda in Mexico's congress.
"If you just hand out
televisions, you run a grave risk of repeating the past century when the PRI
governed and handed out gifts of beans and rice to get a vote," said Adame
in an interview. "Now they could be handing out televisions in exchange
for a vote. That is the risk."
He said he asked the federal
agency in charge of handing out TVs to hold off during the election year, but
his request was refused.
After the PRI's successful bid to
regain the presidency with Peña Nieto, thousands of voters said they were given
supermarket vouchers by PRI activists in the weeks before the 2012 vote. Peña
won with 38 percent.
The social development ministry,
known as Sedesol in Spanish, last year had to fire a Veracruz state coordinator
along with six other staff members after local PAN leaders claimed that they
were using social programs to win electoral support for the PRI.
The Sedesol agency is now tasked
with handing out the TVs.
Serra and other recipients of
free digital sets said she they were just happy to get their hands on a new
television. They also said that officials attached no conditions to the gift.
No political parties were mentioned, people picking up their TV sets said to
VICE News.
"I feel like a child with a
new toy, I'm so happy," said Jose Luis Muñoz, before hopping on his
motorbike with his wife and new TV set. "I've received many benefits from
the government, but this one is a beautiful thing for my family."
Lorenzo Meyer, a respected
Mexican historian and political analyst, said that even measures meant to feign
electoral neutrality are all part of a subtle game that parties have been
playing in Mexico for generations.
"The fact that it's
happening at the start of the mid-term elections isn't fooling anyone. Whoever
gets the television knows where it comes from, and understands that this is a
quid pro quo," Meyer said in an interview.
"It's very well thought out
because the opposition won't be able to say, 'You're buying votes with this,'
because it's part of legislation, a national necessity," he added.
"But no one deep down can deny that there is a clear electoral advantage
being gained by the PRI
VICE News repeatedly requested an
interview with the federal agency in control of the broader program, the
communications and transportation ministry, or SCT. No spokesman or officials
were made available, despite being offered specific questions about the TVs.
The ministry's website explains
that the switch to a digital signal will mean "better quality image and
sound, a new and wider selection of channels, the incorporation of services
like subtitles, language choice, interactive services, multi-vision camera, and
services for people with hearing or visual problems."
Mexico is not alone in making the
shift from analog to digital television. Many other developed and developing
countries have either finished or are also in the process of switching to
digital TV.
The televisions are costing the
government approximately $143 each, which adds up to the $1.9 billion total
cost of the program, the SCT said.
But there are probable hidden
costs in what has been a less than transparent process, said Gabriel Sosa
Plata, a communications professor at Mexico's Metropolitan Autonomous
University, and a member of a non-profit telecom watchdog group called
Observatel.
"It's difficult to know
exactly how much it is going to cost because the government hasn't included the
logistical costs involved in what is a huge operation. Also we don't know
exactly how many people will receive the televisions, when, or who they
are," Sosa told VICE News.
Even the information over which
companies are producing the televisions is difficult to come by for non-experts
poring through government documents, he added. "And this lack of transparency
leads to a lack of trust in the plan."
The transport and communications
ministry says that the more energy-efficient digital televisions will
essentially repay the money being invested in the program over time, saving the
country's citizens and government an estimated $2.2 billion over the next 10
years on electricity bills, the government said.
The wider selection of
free-to-air channels that will be available on digital television will also be
a plus for Mexicans who don't have many choices outside of Televisa and TV
Azteca, said Ana Lilia Moreno, an analyst who covers telecommunications for the
Mexico City think-tank CIDAC.
The two media giants currently
have an almost duopolistic control of the open TV market in Mexico.
"It's an advance, but for
the population, it's a bit of a frivolous outlay," Moreno said. "I
think it would be better to focus on connecting more people, schools,
and hospitals to the Internet [rather] than to spend such a large amount of
money on television."
The government has a plan to
provide widespread wireless Internet coverage in public spaces throughout the
country, and the digital televisions it is handing out also have a port to
connect to the Internet. But there is a long way to go.
Just three out of ten Mexican
families had a home Internet connection in 2013, while more than 94 percent had
a TV set, government figures show.
Francisco Alcantara, 68, said he
was unaware of the controversy over the digital television handouts as he picked
up his free TV in Morelia. He didn't have the money for gas, so he walked two
hours to the distribution center.
Holding his new set, he stopped
to share a more pragmatic viewpoint.
"We're in a bad situation because the
thieves are above and the beggars are below," Alcantar said. "I just take what they give me, because you don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
Mexicos dignity is the price of a tv. PRI is a joke
ReplyDeleteSo the people get HD tvs to the view the violence in better quailty. Great campaign technique.
DeleteIf that's what it takes to "win " asi es in Mexico. We get the government we deserve/
ReplyDeleteSO PRACTICALLY MEXICAN IDIOTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN F'D UP COUNTRY. THEY CREATE THE PROBLEMS THEMSELVES. BUT MOST IDIOTS WONT ADMIT IT.. LOOK AT SOM IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE REPORTING.. BELOW
DeleteThey also said that officials attached no conditions to the gift. No political parties were mentioned, people picking up their TV sets said to VICE News.
Mexican parties of all colors are well known for handing out gifts for political ends.
The social development ministry, known as Sedesol in Spanish, last year had to fire a Veracruz state coordinator along with six other staff members after local PAN leaders claimed that they were using social programs to win electoral support for the PRI.
POLITICAL "PARTIES" WORKING FOR OTHER POLITICAL "PARTIES"?? HOW DOES THAT WORK? MEXICO IS DEFINITELY FULL OF TWIZTED SOB'S. LA PURA TRANZA CON ESOS..
IF THEY VOTE FOR EL PAN, EL PRI OR PRD, BASED ON HAND OUTS.. IS THEIR DECISION. NOBODY FORCE THEM TO VOTE FOR WRONG CANDIDATES. THEY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE. IDIOTS..
The government knows it has to keep the population brainwashed with propaganda and distracted with novelas and football. All those people not able to watch the tube is too much a risk to not address with free t.v. s.
ReplyDeleteAt a time when they are tring to supress or silence or both the internet, he he he heee...
ReplyDeleteIt must be progress when the enemy itself contributes to its demise, unless they are planning to control the daily emissions of piss and popo like north korea...and the monthly fees will make up for the free tv, in the US everybody is paying for the one thousand channels, includes mexican, russian, korean,etc, all the independent churches of the true god, other communist cults, all day rightista propaganda, all paid for by the free tv owning consummer...they still have pirate dvds and vhs tapes...
You've gotta be fucking with me. THIS is what they invest in?? The welfare community in Michoacan doesn't need energy-efficient TVs, they need infrastructure and job opportunities. This is a blatant example of the PRI's trying to buy votes by manipulating its most simple-minded citizens because the party has no real credibility.
ReplyDeleteIf the PRI cared as much about actually helping the country as they did about winning votes from ignorant people, they'd hand out birth control instead of TV sets.
ReplyDeleteBirth control ? Sounds like someone might be racist. Would you suggest birth control for your own family and friends or only in Mexico? I would like to decide on my own family planning without you having any say in it, if you dont mind.
DeleteDon't pull out the racist card. He didn't say anything that was remotely racist. You may just be one of the ignorant people he's talking about.
Deletewhats the most important programs in Mexico, who was a soap star? Nieto wife. Hey at least one things daily the soaps take their mines off the problems in Mexico. and the PRI wins again. U dumb Asses u get the Government u vote for. Hey US is the same look at the dumb ass running the country
ReplyDeleteNieto bought votes with a gift card that had $7.50 on it. At the time they were ready to cash them in after the elections many people were stuck in line at the Soriana market and finding at the cash register they had no money at all on them. They know these TV's will buy a whole lot of votes.
ReplyDeleteCon tanta rata some one must had stole it. bola de pendejos lol
Deletewow no $ on the gift card?Then they voted for nothing.That sure goes to tell you about PRIs credibility;ZILCH.
DeleteAnd Mexicans wonder why there country is without ethics because they all are
ReplyDeleteLa pura tranza con esas ratas no ethica no moral
DeleteThey take advantage of the poor people. The Perfect Dictatorship!
ReplyDeleteThey are paying off all the kidnappings, rapes, extortions and murders that they were too incompetent to prevent by doing their job.
ReplyDelete-Mike Haggar
I'm expecting Tuta outmatching the government
ReplyDeleteand handing out free heroine and meth.
Welcome to the world of we in the usa call lobbyists!!
ReplyDeleteRemember the free Obama phone?
DeleteX-cuse me...How else we gonna watch TELEVISA's GAAAAAVIOTA...gone dem it...shiiieeet
ReplyDeleteIt's Sad To Sell Out For some tvs
ReplyDelete@ December 4, 2014 at 11:58 PM
ReplyDeleteEven if birth control were absolutely free in Mexico, the citizens in the poor communities would still have as many children as they can. That's their tradition, the only way they can bring their family honor, regardless of whether they can afford to feed them etc.
If you want to see a place that places immense value on having children, while placing much less value on actually raising them well, rural Mexico is the place.
The 'Birth Control for Mexicans Guy' and the Mexicans do things to bring 'Honor to their family, Guy' are getting active on BB again. Yes, it seems racist or at least presumptive. I know of many Mexicans who do not fit your stereotypical subject. Would you feel as comfortable stating that Mormons need birthcontrol? What about Blacks? Italians? Any couple that has more than two kids, increases the world population. Hit close to home yet?
DeleteThese people dont know any better...selling their country for a fucking tv..
ReplyDeleteI want my free TV and a pack of corn tortillas! OK , ok this is a joke how ignorant can people be! Will they really vote because of a freaking TV that will show on Televisa 24 hrs a day showing pro-PRI propaganda! Selling ourselves out! Take the TV, and vote for who's going to better stock up your fridge to survive!
ReplyDeleteSo the PRI used tax dollars to buy votes with tvs? That is a blatant abuse of power and it's very undemocratic.
ReplyDeleteBut on the bright side, that tv company just made a KILLING