TV Stations Merge/Candidate Disqualifications

Televisa and Univision. After Televisa and Univision, both television stations, announced their merger, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the new entity constitutes “the largest Spanish-language media company in the world.” He also pointed out that with the merger, both companies, “will pay several billions of pesos in taxes to the public finances of our country.” In total, the merger is worth MX$100 billion (US$5 billion), with an audience reach of up to 600 million people around the world. The president said that the reason for the merger is to be able to expand scale and resources to achieve higher levels of content production for digital platforms.

Telephone registry. López Obrador announced that the Senate had approved the creation of a registry of mobile phone users. The president explained that this decision was made after seeing that telephones were used to commit crimes and that the registry would allow better control. As such, he said it was approved for security reasons. “Of course, the telephone companies did not view it with sympathy because it involves another procedure; the safety of the people is at stake and it is not to sell peanuts. It is to sell a card to have communication that can be used for extortion, kidnapping, committing illicit acts, it is a matter of security for the protection of Mexicans.”

Michoacan Insecurity. AMLO announced that progress has been made in regard to the insecurity in Michoacan. “Progress has been made despite the presence of organized crime groups in the area, but not all are members of criminal organizations; the majority of the people are honest people, hardworking, peaceful.” An attempt is being made to solve the problem of violence “by maintaining good relations with the government of Michoacan and acting in an institutional manner, but the use of the armed forces does not depend on the governors,” he said.

Disqualification of candidates. López Obrador mentioned that the disqualification of the candidacies of Félix Salgado Macedonio and Raúl Morón in the coming legislative election was an attack on democracy and asked that it be reconciled so as not to take away their right to participate in the June 6 vote. He also proposed that a survey be conducted by the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Power (TEPJF) in Guerrero and Michoacan to find out if citizens want Macedonio and Morón to participate in the elections.

AMLO to touch on Trump in new book. López Obrador again called on the US Congress to quickly resolve Joe Biden’s immigration initiatives. At the same time, AMLO mentioned that he will touch on his relationship with former President Donald Trump in a new book. “I have decided that I am writing a book and I am going to discuss, among other topics, my relationship with President Trump, beyond what is known.”

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish