Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...
Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...
Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...
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people’. 50 It aimed for an apparent change in political life. However, during his<br />
presidential term and despite his rhetoric, things did not change. 51<br />
Echeverría saw the importance of the mass media and used it to promote the<br />
achievements and values of the state. He wanted to gain credibility and improve his<br />
image. 52 He spoke of freedom in the media. Thus, he encouraged the press to ask<br />
whatever they wanted, and the intellectuals and artists to deal with any topic.The<br />
president ‘reiteraba en público y en privado: un gobierno honrado y una prensa<br />
independiente son puntales de la sociedad democrática’. 53 According to the president<br />
nothing was prohibited, although in some cases, like the cinema, there was a group of<br />
censors 54 which gave recommendations to filmmakers and had the last word regarding<br />
whether a film could be shot or screened. 55 Comics and printed publications were<br />
censored under similar regulations. 56 In other cases, the government censored<br />
publications covertly, such as the newspaper Excélsior in 1976. Sometimes violent<br />
repression was used, as in 1971 against another student demonstration, and against the<br />
guerrilla groups.<br />
Luis Echeverría created policies which represented a change of direction from<br />
previous administrations. He proclaimed the ‘second stage of agricultural reform’,<br />
increasing the productivity of the ejidos, making them collective and trying to increase<br />
50 José Luis Reyna, ‘Redefining the Authoritarian Regime’, in Authoritarianism in Mexico, ed. by José<br />
Luis Reyna and Richard S. Weinert (Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1977), pp.<br />
155-171 (p. 165).<br />
51 Luis Salazar, ‘Agotamiento de la hegemonía mexicana revolucionaria y transición política’, in México<br />
a fines de siglo… pp. 342-376 (p. 343).<br />
52 Héctor Aguilar Camín, Saldos de la revolución. Cultura política de México, 1910-1980 (México:<br />
Editorial Nueva Imagen, 1982), p. 175.<br />
53 Julio Scherer García, Los presidentes (Mexico: Debolsillo, 2007), p. 73.<br />
54 It is important to mention that this was created before Echeverría’s term, in January 1957. Its original<br />
aim was ‘prohibir todas las películas mexicanas y extranjeras que presenten desnudos y traten temas<br />
inmorales’, although over time, it also forbade topics that were critical of the government. Eric Zolov,<br />
Rebeldes con causa. La contracultura Mexicana y la crisis del Estado patriarcal, trans. by Rafael Vargas<br />
Escalante (Mexico: Norma, 2002), p. 50.<br />
55 José Agustín, Tragicomedia mexicana 2… p. 62.<br />
56 Full information about the office in charge of censorship for magazines and comics can be found in<br />
Anne Rubinstein, Del Pepín a Los Agachados. Cómic y censura en el México posrevolucionario, trans. by<br />
Victoria Schussheim (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2004), pp. 172-193.<br />
51