Felipe Calderón's Revenge - The Vendetta against MVS

I recently realized how little I know about an important communication battleground that has the potential to impede political and social progress in Mexico and to silence the voice of protest. In fact, the battle in Mexico is another example of what has been called "the new cold war" by sociologist Philip N. Howard. In a blog that quickly became widely cited, Howard says:

"There is a new Cold War starting. It does not involve opposing military forces, but it does involve competing ideas about how political life should be organized. The battles are between broadcast media outlets and social-media upstarts, which have very different approaches to news production, ownership and censorship." (Read full article at: http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/08/01/social-media-and-the-new-cold-war/).

Howard is specifically referring to the battle in Russia and other totalitarian states  to control and limit the power of alternative expressions and information outlets (think Pussy Riot), but his general argument about limiting access to news and silencing voices of dissent also applies to Mexico. The Mexican government has not made any obvious attempts to block individual access to social media, it has nevertheless undertaken to silence those who do not speak well of Mexico. The Calderón government introduced a campaign to encourage everyone in Mexico to say only positive things about Mexico, and in the final months of the PAN sexenio the Calderón government and the putative president elect Enrique Peña Nieto both contracted with international public relations firms to promote their personal positive image.


But the most important battleground of this "Mexican Cold War" involves a plaza dispute for Broad Band Spectrum licensing. Here, a fight to control the 2.5 GHz broad-band media rights has become the proxy battlefield where  powerful economic and political forces are engaged in a battle to control the hearts and minds and the pursestrings of Mexicans.

The political battle is about a licence for the 2.5 Ghz broadband spectrum (see a Forbes report at http://www.forbes.com/sites/joanlappin/2012/06/29/the-whole-world-is-moving-toward-2-5mhz-spectrum-as-u-s-investors-ignore-clearwire/) and whoever ends up with the rights to use 2.5 GHz will have the potential to control or to protect freedom of speech, journalistic integrity and a powerful propaganda machinery. The outcome will be one of two radically different alternatives— either a powerful ideological machinery or alternative outlets for public enlightenment and marginalized voices. 

THE ISSUE:

The case is about the Calderon government decision to take away a longstanding permission from one company that has provided 2.5 Ghz services in Mexico and to hand over this licence to one of the two existing duopoly media empires (Televisa). The license ("permission to use") was originally granted to the family of Joaquin Vargas Guajardo a number of years ago. At the time, this broadband range was not considered commercially viable and no-one appreciated its potential importance,  nor did anyone anticipate how it has become one of the central battlegrounds of telecommunications in the internet and wireless age. 

Joaquin Vargas and his family used the 2.5 Ghz broadband frequency licence to introduce and foster a wide range of telecommunication point-to-point services in their telecommunications company named MVS. Vargas describes the goals and purpose of  MVS this way (http://www.mvs.com.mx/inicio)

MVS COMUNICACIONES, Una empresa innovadora.

En 1967, el instinto de negocio y la visión innovadora de Joaquín Vargas Gómez guiaron la apertura de Stereorey, la primera estación de radio FM estéreo en México. En ese momento él no lo sabía, pero al crear esta estación, también puso los cimientos de lo que sería MVS, una de las empresas de comunicaciones más importantes de México y América Latina.

Ese espíritu innovador ha sido nuestro motor desde hace mas de cuatro décadas. Hemos sido pioneros en incorporar incontables avances tecnológicos en el mundo de las telecomunicaciones, muchos de ellos aún vigentes, y lo hemos hecho con la firme creencia de que en México hay talento y grandes posibilidades de crecimiento. Hemos sido innovadores también en la creación de contenidos, en el estilo y forma de comunicar e, incluso, en la manera de administrar cada negocio.

Google translation into English

MVS Communications, an innovative company.

In 1967, the business instinct and innovative vision guided Joaquín Vargas Gómez Stereorey opening, the first stereo FM radio station in Mexico. At that time he did not know, but to create this season, also laid the foundations of what would MVS, one of the largest communications companies in Mexico and Latin America.

That spirit of innovation has been our driving force for more than four decades. We have pioneered countless incorporate technological advances in the telecommunications world, many of them still in force, and have done so with the firm belief that Mexico has talent and great potential for growth. We have also been innovative in creating content, style and way of communicating and even on how to manage each business.

MVS grew into an innovative and diverse company that provided radio and streaming services via more than 130 broad band stations (radio and television), and approximately 2/3 of those stations were created and financed by MVS itself. Many of those outlets provided public information that was not available through official channels, and in many cases was the only place where alternative views to the official hegemony could be heard. Arguably, the success of MVS in Mexico in providing these services and yet remaining financially viable is a major reason that other international telephone and telecommunication providers are reviewing how to develop this same broad-band frequency elsewhere! Several regulatory agencies  (eg Australia, NZ) are re-evaluating how to licence and regulate this broadband range that opens up a wide spectrum of communication outlets.

The Importance of 2.5 GHz services in Mexico

Most importantly, many of the radio and streaming programs in Mexico engaged in outstanding investigative journalism and served as a true "fifth estate" in pointing to the abuses and corruption of government power, military violations of human rights in conducting the drug war, the non-transparency and inequality inherent in the Mexican justice system, and the outright abuses of power by the oligarchies that dominate Mexico. One of the most outstanding and well-known MVS voices is the journalist and talk-show host Carmen Aristegui. 

Several stations broadcasting from MVS frequencies and through broadband streaming stations became major thorns in the side of politicians of all stripes—including Vicente Fox, Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador and Felipe Calderón. Carmen Aristegui became one of the most famous journalists in Mexico because she regularly provided information and hosted experts who addressed the flawed drug war, the inexplicable ways in which Felipe Calderon's family and friends escaped prosecution in the aftermath of the ABC Day Care Tragedy that killed 44 children, and even the personal shortcomings and inadequacies of politicians like Felipe Calderon Hinojosa. Although Aristegui brought to light many facts and issues that would anger Felipe Calderón,  her interviews focusing on his well-known alcoholism were especially vexing and irritating and drove him into a black rage. There is no doubt that she was public enemy number one in Calderon's mind, and as a result MVS and Joaquin Vargas came under direct attack.

Suspension from broadcasting and reinstatement

In February of 2011, Carmen Aristegui's contract was not renewed under mysterious circumstances, but she was later reinstated with even less information. Carmen Aristegui provides more details about these events in a reforma op-ed column from August 24, 2012 and more details are being revealed day by day as documents and electronic communications are released and made public. (See Reporte Indigo- los BBLeaks de MVS )When these events happened, there was a public outrage and extensive news coverage in many of the traditional media outlets (La Jornada, Reforma, Proceso). Documents recently made available make it clear that this February firing resulted from herrefusal to apologize for a program in which she editorialized about Felipe Calderon's alcoholism and his inability to perform his duties.

But the removal of the licence from Joaquin Vargas was unlikely limited to the Aristegui incident. Over time, MVS and many of its other streaming services emerged as the prime outlet for leftist Progresista movement in the election campaign, and MVS provided several outlets for  intellectuals, government critics, international observers and informed citizens to make critiques and present reasonable alternative views to the government policies.

Felipe Finally Gets his Revenge

But Felipe Calderón eventually would have his pound of flesh! In July of this year,  the government withdrew this longstanding licence (Permission?) that had been granted to the Vargas family to offer 2.5 GHz services. Even more remarkably, it handed  the licence to Televisa in a gift wrapped pacakge— making the Televisa media empire even more powerful and influential in . There is no need here to point out how Televisa was directly involved in the election campaign on behalf of PRI's Enrique Peña Nieto nor that its blatant agenda of support for the PRI remains one main focal points the #YoSoy132 campaign against corruption, oligarchies and abuse of power. Nor is there time to review out all of the intricate ways that Televisa has involved in promoting Enrique Peña Nieto directly through its  public relations for pay service teams and on air favourable coverage.

Newspapers in Mexico have provided extensive coverage to this 2.5 GHz story, but to this point there are no English language reports about this blatant attempt to silence freedom of speech and alternative viewpoints in Mexico. If Felipe Calderon remains unchallenged, the duopolistic media powers Televisa and TV Azteca will emerge with even more influence, and the voices of reasonable journalists and intellectuals in Mexico will have limited outlet. To bend and paraphrase Televisa's founder Emilio Izcarraga famous dictum— everyone will be fucked, not just the poor.

Indications are that Joaquin Vargas is a decent and honourable man and evidence supports the idea that he has always managed MVS fairly and in a transparent way. He has never made waves nor tried to influence elections nor government policy, and has remained in the background. But he has been fighting back and has been confronting the Calderón government directly with the facts. Spokespeople (voceros) for Felipe Calderon are working hard to make the argument that this is just about a businessman who does not want to pay a fee to use a valuable bandwidth — but it is clearly much more ominous and has been described by Proceso as Calderon's revenge. (edition 1858 http://www.proceso.com.mx/?page_id=317434 and an in-depth report by Jenaro Villamil http://www.proceso.com.mx/?page_id=278958&a51dc26366d99bb5fa29cea4747565fec=317358)

The Mexican government also claims that it was Joaquin Vargas himself who offered to fire Carmen Aristegui, but in a press conference (http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/08/23/politica/002n1pol) Vargas calmly fired back and denied this allegation. He presented documents that clearly show that the pressure came directly from Calderón and that he was offered the renewal of his family license for 2.5 Ghz services if she were fired and removed from the air. (The documents are available at http://gruporeforma.reforma.com/infograficas/negocios/documentos_mvs_220812.pdf)

This retraction of this 2.5 GHz licence is a complicated and troubling incident with important implications for transparency, the freedom of the press, and for democratic development in Mexico. And sadly, it is NOT being covered in the English language press.

Fisgón - la Jornada August 25, 2012

Lorenzo Meyer (Reforma, August 23) published a column that presents basic facts and events, and also suggests why it is important that those who believe in intellectual, academic and political freedom should monitor this development closely. (see 'Quién consigue qué, cómo y cuándo' on Reforma's site, or look for a reprint of it in other Mexican newspapers). But Raymundo Riva Palacio describes the unique and unusual stance of Joaquin Vargas Guajardo, especially in the eje central column entitled Citizen Joaquin where he may in fact have offered to deliver Carmen Aristegui's head on a platter. Vargas may not be the perfect hero, but he has taken a courageous stance in opposing the oligarchy and he has done this in a country that is familiar with the brutality of power. Even if Vargas did offer to curb Aristegui, we might be able to forgive him given a business culture that thrives on threat and bullying.

This incident is a troubling threat to democracy, and it is truly hard to know whether everyone involved is a villain or a hero.  But the battle is one that deserves to be covered in more detail in the international press. If there are no external monitors and observers, Mexico will be in even more danger of becoming another 20th century example of totalitarian state described in George Orwell's "1984".

Global implications

This battle in Mexico seems to have focused on one specific area where very few people are paying attention to the larger consequences. But this is an important issue that has implications that extend far beyond the Mexican borders. The student protests and #YoSoy132 movement in Mexico undertand why it is important to curb and place limits on media power, and they have correctly identified the threat to democracy represented by the duopolistic powers of Televisa and TVAzteca. Outside of Mexico, few of us our paying attention to this battle and even fewer of us understand the implications.

The 2012 Presidential Election and Youth Protest — a turning point?

The first impression that many have when they travel to Mexico is a bewildering sense of chaos and disorder. But such an impression belies the reality that powerful forces and hidden powers have always controlled almost every aspect of Mexican life, and have successfully manipulated politics and events to serve their interests

Although many benefit from this oligarchic control, almost all have links to the powerful broadcast media outlets Televisa and TV Azteca and are linked to an elite group of friends known as the Atlamulco group. The fingers of Emilio Azcárraga Jean (Televisa) and Ricardo Salinas Pliego (TV Azteca) stir the pot and pull many of the strings that have led to the enrichment of many of many of their friends in that circle.

Both of these powerful media ignored the Mexican public and their civic and moral responsibility and in their decision to broadcast futbol semi-finals instead of broadcasting the first presidential debate of 2012, but that may be the least onerous act of political manipulation in support of their favourite son  and PRI presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto. Their money and influence have played an important part in promoting the popularity of their glamourous candidate whose second wife happens to be a former soap opera star. Their support and connections to Peña Nieto and to his political mentors Emilio Chuayffet Chemor are well known. Emilio Azcárraga Jean, former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari and all of the wealthiest members of the PRI elite were guests at his lavish wedding to the glamourous soap-opera star and daughter of Emilio Chuayfett Chemor.

Pictures from Enrique Peña Nieto's opulent wedding — Ex president Carlos Salinas de Gortari was the most senior PRI padrino at the event and signed the wedding documents as a witness.

Pubic opinion polls and news reports have consistently reported that Peña Nieto has a lead of at least 20 points, leaving challengers (Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - AMLO, and Josefina Vasquez Mota - La Chepina) trailing far behind and only ahead of Gabriel Quadri de la Torre who is running as a front for the powerful teacher union cacique Elba Esther Gordillo.  As most people know, public opinion polls are sometimes wrong — but a 20 point lead with 6 weeks to go is a substantial margin that is hard to explain away by fraud or manipulation. Nevertheless, there are many people here in Mexico who doubt the numbers and who firmly believe that Televisa in cooperation with the powerful forces of PRI and Atlamulco have successfully distorted the results to reinforce a perception that Peña Nieto has an insurmountable lead and is the people's choice. As someone with training in statistical analysis, I do find it difficult to believe that there could be such a gross manipulation of data — but my Mexican friends who also have an understanding of methodology and statistics assure me that the results are much closer than Televisa, TV Azteca and PRI would have us believe. They point to the large number of people who have refused to participate and even answer, and to the large number of undecided voters who did answer— representing more than 50% of the sample are not providing a choice. This creates a margin of error that is incredibly broad and leaves the interpretation in the unreliable zone.

But no matter what polls have indicated, Peña Nieto appeared to be sailing smoothly toward the presidency supported by legions of adoring female supporters yelling vacuous things such as come home with me please my beautiful man. Peña Nieto's scripted campaign has been a powerful juggernaut in spite of flubbing a softball question to identify 3 influential books at Latin America's biggest book fair in Guadalajara ( http://lat.ms/rTNMtG)  and his daughter's subsequent tweet complaining about "los proles" and their lack of respect for her father after the press made fun of his ignorance of books. The tweeter universe jumped all over her snobbish comments and generated a hashtag that went viral — #YoSoyProle. But, these two things had little impact on the campaign nor did they provide any momentum to turn polling numbers around. AMLO and La Chepina remained far behind and fighting with each other to avoid falling into 3rd place in the reported polls. The campaign to install Enrique Peña Nieto followed the script to a T, in much the same way that Televisa and TV Azteca generated soap-operas for the mindless masses.

The incident at Iberoamericana University

But something unexpected happened, and Enrique Peña Nietos momentum may have hit a major roadblock. It's too early to say that Enrique Peña Nieto and his team made a major mistake and that their weakness in substance and policy have been completely exposed. But it's clear that a game-changing event happened on May 11 when Enrique's Campaign advisors scheduled a rally at the Jesuit Private Iberoamericana University in the wealthy Santa Fe area of Mexico State — where both Peña Nieto and his father-in-law had been the governor and where Carlo Salinas de Gortari has his family estate.
The student rally appeared to be going well and according to script until the issue of Atenco protests and police response were raised in a question period. As governor, Enrique Peña Nieto had called in 700 Federal Police and 1,815 EdoMex State Police who broke up the event with violent force. (see the Atenco event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccf7pOOhvCY).
Peña Nieto defended police actions as a necessary reaction, and said that the State has a moral obligation to respond to violence with force. His response generated a audible groans and shouting protests, and demands  that Peña Nieto get out of here (("fuerase") . The noise and shouts became so loud that he did flee with a look of panic clearly etched on his face, and he was quickly surrounded by his advisors in the corridors outside of the auditorium — all of which was captured by video cameras and all showing that his trademark smile had become a worried grimace. (Photo downloaded from Proceso)

Finally, he was ushered off campus and to safety by his handlers. (see  http://bit.ly/Lys1nL).

Afterwards, PRI spin doctors suggested that this rally had been sabotaged and organized in advance by PRD activists and agitators who were not students at Iberoamericana. However the rally was open only to students and video evidence made it very clear that the only organized group on campus that day was a PRI rally team with pre-printed professional campaign posters. Eventually, 131 students from Iberoamericana came forward to indicate that they were students who had protested— and they presented their student ID's to prove it. They all claimed that nothing organized ahead of time and that what happened at the Iberoamericana rally was a spontaneous reaction to an answer that the students clearly did not believe nor accept.

A war of words escalated, and everything that the PRI spin doctors tried had an effect opposite to what they intended. The more they said, the angrier the reaction became, and studnet protests materialized across most of the country- albeit with more participants in some parts than in others. And student marchers  adopted a new slogan indicating their support— YoSo132 — i.e. they wanted to add their name as the 132 student who was opposed to Peña Nieto. The slogan served as another hashtag #MarchaYoSoy132 that went viral, and is part of a massive tweeter wave of comments reinforcing the view that Enrique Peña Prieto is a candidate of the elite and the powerful, and is no friend of the students nor any Mexican other than the wealthy elite.

The "tuits" also connected Peña Nieto and Televisa, and have led to protests in front of public monuments such as the much criticized estella de luz monument ( http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/05/24/politica/019n1pol ), in the symbolically important Plaza de Tres culturas in Tlatelolco, and ended up outside of Televisa offices and studios in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and in other parts of Mexico. The headlines in the Guadalajara version of La Jornada screamed in bold letters ""Somos jóvenes, sabemos lo que está pasando - We are young, we know what's going on". There is rapidly growing viral campaign in the tweeter-verse to shut off Televisa from home TV sets and boycott it (#ApagonTelevisa http://bit.ly/Kr0Ey1).

To an outsider, these protests against a candidate from the party in opposition seems like it should be inconsequential, but the fact is that the Iberoamericana events have escalated into major repercussions with the real potential to alter the fin what  happens in the final 6 weeks of the campaign. The rejection by the students of an elite and conservative university has left the PRI scrambling to change the message of Enrique Peña Nieto, and he recently proposed several intiiatives and promises to help youth find jobs. He has begun to emphasize that he will be  more transparent and open in dealing with students and with other Mexican citizens. But, he hasn't set foot on another campus, and editorial cartoons ridiculing his fear of students. (e.g.http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=308108).

PRI has apparently decided that its best response is to mobilize one supporting constituency it believes it can count on — women — and apparently have called for a march of 15,000 women to protest the bad treatment of their glamour boy by rowdy students at Iberoamericana and the agitators protesting in front of Televisa (Mujeres priistas marcharán en desagravio de “agresiones” a EPN ( http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=308874 )

But, many journalists and writers are suggesting that these protests are not frivolous and organized events and that they are a major turning point in the campaign — and perhaps even a sign that politics of Mexico may never be the same and that the time of manipulation by the oligarchy has ended. To borrow from the moral of a fairy tale — a child was the only one who pointed out that the emperor has no clothes. In the case of Mexico, the students not only exposed the fact that the PRI and Enrique Peña Nieto have no substance but they've also made it clear that they understand that Televisa and TV Azteca have been shamelessly promoting a naked emperor-to-be for their own self-interest.

José Gil Olmos has published a couple of brilliant analyses describing the potential impact and the change that the protests represent (http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=307732 , http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=308520) and Jesusa Cervantes has described the potential of this movement very succinctly in another Proceso article (http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=308537). Cervantes writes that the students have demonstrated that they are well informed and that they do know what they want. They know what the PRI and Peña Nieto stand for, and they have shown a capacity to demonstrate indignation in a powerful way — much more than middle-aged Mexicans working in secure jobs that they hope to keep until they retire. The students proclaim "Don't insult our intelligence — we know what you stand for and who is behind you". 
She adds that the student protests have forced Peña Nieto off his script and made him pay attention to issues outside of his controlled agenda — the young people and the manipulation of power. The student protests have forced the election team of the PRI to twist and turn to quickly throw out new manifestos promising to protect guarantees that are already in the constitution. The PRI and Peña Nieto are promising to do what every student knows is supposed to happen by law, and Enrique Peña Nieto and the PRI response have simply shown that they have never understood this".

"Los jóvenes demostraron que sí están informados, que sí saben lo que no quieren: al PRI y a Peña Nieto por lo que representa, no por su persona en sí. Mostraron que tienen capacidad de indignación más fuerte que cualquier cuarentón cómodamente instalado en su oficina de trabajo esperando su jubilación.

El reclamo es: “no insultes mi inteligencia; sabemos qué representas y a quién tienes detrás”.

El moviendo estudiantil ha obligado a Peña Nieto a voltear la mirada hacia los jóvenes, pero tanto él como su equipo ha sido tan torpes que los ha insultado aún más ofreciéndoles un “manifiesto” que no es otra cosa que los principios y derechos que están consagrados en la Constitución. Eso cualquier estudiante de derecho lo sabe, cualquier preparatoriano que lleve la materia lo entiende. Sólo la prepotencia y falta de entendimiento de Peña Nieto y su equipo no lo han digerido."

But, it remains to be seen how it will play out and it remains to be seen whether the youth of Mexico will vote in numbers that will make a difference. However, the message of the young people may have already spread to other parts of the population. Peña Nieto had planned to visit two cities in Sinaloa on a major campaign sweep through the state, but he cancelled his visit to Mazatlan and his rally in the north in Guasave was not well-attended and a large part of the audience walked out during his speech leaving the stadium with vast swatches of empty seats.

Posted from Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico

Word of the day — El Edecán

Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary © 2009 Oxford University Press:
edecán sustantivo masculino
1. ( Mil ) aide-de-camp
2. edecán sustantivo masculino y femenino (Méx) (acompañante) escort

Spanish, unlike English, is precise in assigning gender to all nouns. There are only a few exceptions where a noun ending in "a" is not feminine and it's usually a safe bet to assume that any noun ending in a consonant or an 'o' is masculine.

But, the presidential debate on Sunday night (May 6) turned the world upside down and gave a whole new and salacious meaning to "el edecán".

The candidate's debate for the presidential election was nearly upstaged by a former playboy model Júlia Orayen (Descember 2008) who sashayed across the screen wearing a low-cut white dress that left little to the imagination. She was distributing a ballot that would determine the order of questions and debates between the candidates, but her moves clearly had everyone watching thinking about double D. http://redpolitica.mx/ruta-electoral/quien-es-la-edecan-del-ife

The Mexican tweeter-verse went into overdribe and Monday's bloggers were all agog with their views about IFE and the debate. A tweet site was quickly established, and La Edecan Del IFE@LaEdecanDelIFE attracted more than 15,000 followers within short period of time. Links to her personal site were swamped with visitors trying to find out more about her. http://www.publimetro.com.mx/noticias/fotos-ella-es-julia-orayen-la-edecan-del-ife/mleg!OnIaBPMH8YEQ6/

And a wave of humour was unleashed in the aftermath of the appearance of Srta. Júlia Orayan. http://www.e-consulta.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=33255:la-edec%C3%A1n-del-ife-desata-humor-en-redes-tras-el-debate&Itemid=332, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/05/08/index.php?section=cartones&id=0

There was considerable controversy before the debate about Televisa and TV Azteca's decision to broadcast a "liguilla" futbol playoff game on its main network and to relegate the first presidential debate to secondary channels across Mexico. But that controversy almost took second place to the one that emerged after la srta. Júlia strutted her stuff.

http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/noticias2011/f91d79fe958aaaaba01a70324e658d32
http://m.vanguardia.com.mx/niquadripudoresistirsealosencantosdelaedecandelife-1282319.html
http://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/737891.critican-a-edecan-del-ife-por-vestido.html
http://conexiontotal.mx/2012/05/08/edecan-del-ife-encueratriz-con-lios-judiciales/

The organizers of the debate at the Instituto Federal de Elecciones (IFE) went into damage control and issued several apologies. http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=306718
http://mexico.cnn.com/nacional/2012/05/07/el-ife-se-disculpa-por-la-vestimenta-de-la-edecan-del-debate-presidencial?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cnnmexico%2Fportada+(Noticias)

Mexican broadcasters have always been powerful political brokers and players, and they have shown a disdain for the intelligence of the Mexican public. Emilio "El Tigre" Azcarraga Milmo is famous for saying that television is for "los jodidos" and that his programming at Televisa would play to that level. Perhaps IFE has simply borrowed that strategy.