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Can Ponch turn Mexico around?
Watchers of goings-on in Mexico have long worried that the drug cartels might grow powerful enough to start buying themselves whole political parties and elections. But Sunday’s presidential election, which brought the country’s traditional political oligarchy back to power, shows that the cartels face a major contender for influence over national politics: television networks.
The telegenic young Enrique Peña Nieto easily won the election, bringing his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) back to power for the first time in twelve years. Previously, the PRI had ruled Mexico for 71 years, establishing an upper-class oligarchy in a country that until recently was composed of a very few rich people and a huge number of desperately poor ones.
One of the campaign’s dominant issues was Mr. Peña’s close relationship with Televisa, the nation’s leading television network, which has a dominant market share. When he was governor of the state surrounding Mexico City, he cultivated a close relationship with the network. An arrangement whereby the state provided Televisa with tens of millions of dollars in exchange for advertising and positive news coverage has become a topic of heated debate. It has further emerged that the producers at Televisa decided to raise Mr. Peña’s profile through a marketing strategy that has been hugely successful for the network’s soap operas: the ubiquitous telenovelas.
Czar of Defenestration
July 3rd, 2012
NOT in our national interest.
Keep a CLOSE eye on this.
JustAl
July 3rd, 2012
Sure he can. His party kept the peace for decades by alternately favoring cartels to allow business as usual without all the violence. Only when Mexican politicians cooperate with our insane war on drugs does the sh** hit the fan in MX.
Maybe, now that US companies have so much invested in MX we will realize how stupid and bad for business prohibition really is. We’re wasted billions of dollars and thousands of lives acting the nanny.
FreeMan - Save Me Sarah
July 3rd, 2012
Ricky Ricardo won?
He looks crazy to me.
xthred
July 3rd, 2012
No.
Cynic
July 3rd, 2012
Mexico is a third world toilet. I’m not sure anything can rehabilitate it.
FreeMan - Save Me Sarah
July 3rd, 2012
Lucy, you got some splaining to do
Roscoe P. Soultrane
July 3rd, 2012
Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but some family friends in Mexico have been saying for a good while that this guy is bought and paid-for by the cartels.
*shrug*
99th Squad Leader
July 3rd, 2012
A Mexican Marxist empty suit to match our Kenyan Marxist empty suit. They will be best comrades while sinking their respective countries into
a deeper economic depression.
Rob
July 3rd, 2012
When he was governor of the state that surrounds Mexico City?
Loyola needs to break out a friggin’ map. That state which surrounds Mexico City is called…wait for it…The State of Mexico!
Sorry, but that shit’s just lazy.
Tony R
July 3rd, 2012
Nice grimace, Enrique!
reddecaesari
July 4th, 2012
never trust an hombre that smiles with his bottom teeth showing.
Bad Brad
July 4th, 2012
Shit wheres Poncho and Lefty when you need them. I’ve spent some time down there, was going to put a sports fisher down in Cabo until the local P.D. started planting drugs on them and confiscating them. You need a good sense of humor to appreciate that. The PRI has it roots in the old Spaniard’s. They hate the indigenous Indians, which are a hard working people. Personally I don’t think this is good.
Cecily Neville
July 4th, 2012
You know Ricky was Cuban, right?
FreedomCat
July 4th, 2012
Don’t trust this at all. Watch him and dumbo and nappy.
House of Kell
July 4th, 2012
Don’t know if he can turn anything around, but with those wild, wide eyes and those clenched jawed teeth, he looks like he’s already snorted half of their domestic product!!!!
persecutor
July 4th, 2012
Erik Estrada, you haven’t aged a bit!
shotwell
July 4th, 2012
A classic example of how a country can be poor and rich at the same time. Is the middle class really disapearing in America? Maybe.
cleaning lady
July 4th, 2012
he looks like a partner in crime, maybe he’s “in a relationship” with Barakkk Obamaaa~