Mexico
Mexico has an old tradition for censorship which has not completely disappeared in spite of numerous assurances from presidents and government officials that there is freedom of expression in Mexico. Even after the defeat of the old ruling party, PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) in 2000 after 71 years in power, uninterrupted, censorship and restrictions on media, journalists, musicians and other artists is still exercised – most often adducing moral reasons, state security or violations of the law. Political reasons are, according to the tradition developed by PRI, never used.
Journalists are still murdered – the latest case is that of Félix Fernández García, editor of the magazine Nueva Opción in the Northeastern state of Tamaulipas on 18 January this year – and in most cases the killers are not brought to justice. Others are sacked, as was the case of the director of the national news agency Notimex and 25 staff reporters in late 2001, clearly because of their independent and critical line.
The situation of the journalists gives an indication of the atmosphere and conditions in which many musicians and people who work with music, such as disc jockeys and radio reporters who are responsible for music in the hundreds of radio stations across the country are working under. On top of that most of them are heavily underpaid.
It is mainly two genres that are targeted by the authorities – and often by private enterprises (record companies, record stores, concert organisers, radio stations, tv stations) on their own initiative: narcocorridos (traditional ballads dealing with, and often praising, drug traffickers) and rock (the label comprises almost everything from rock to punk, rap and hip hop; it is mainly the new, Spanish language, provocative rock developed by new groups that are in the sight of the authorities).
Article 63 of the Law of Radio and Television says: "All broadcasts that cause corruption of language or are contrary to good habits, that be through malicious expressions, indecent words or images, double sense phrases or scenes, apology of violence or crime, are prohibited" (my rough translation from Spanish, jl).
Narcocorridos
The newest branch of the old traditional Mexican ballad, the corrido, is the narcocorrido, a variation which was developed since the 1970's. While in the traditional corrido from the 19th century and the revolution (1910-19) and post-revolution up to the 1930's the heroes were generally rebels, bandits, revolutionary heroes, in the narcocorridos the heroes are either the drug smugglers or the drug barons.
But the main sense of the corrido is to a certain extent still the same. In the words of the Mexican sociologist Luis Astorga, the acceptance of figures like the drug traffickers in popular culture happens because they represent a "confrontation with State power in any of its forms".
He develops: "Fascination, admiration and fear for those who dare to challenge the State's monopoly of violence, that be in minor or medium scale; for those who challenge the monopoly of politics and of whom the legend says that he robbed the rich to give to the poor and was persecuted by the law. Outside or inside the limits of the law, the dispute is – conscious or unconscious – for those spaces of power governments of the same tendency have monoplised for decades".
This may explain the extreme popularity of the narcocorridos, mainly in northern Mexico (and among Mexicans in the USA), where the corrido is considered part of the musical heritage, and were most of the drug traffickers are based.
When the narcocorridos became popular in the 1970's the authorities tended to see them as a tool of the drug traffickers to improve their positions. That lead to a so called Recommendation from the Ministry of Justice in 1983 to the radio stations not to play narcocorridos. It was mainly in the Northern state of Chihuahua the recommendation was followed.
Since then there has been several bans, either general on corridos dealing with the drugs theme or on particular corridos. The famous cases of the forbidden corridos by the most popular group in the genre música norteña (outside Latin America better known as tex mex), Los Tigres del Norte, and other groups, are typical of the changing situation and the role of the corridos. While the corridos were banned for broadcast, they were released on records and cassettes – and sold extremely well. And they are still selling.
Banning of narcocorridos does not belong to the past. In december 2001 a local newspaper in the town of Delicias in Chihuahua wrote that the owners of the AM radio stations in the regions had agreed with representatives of the trade unions of the broadcasters that no narcocorridos would be broadcast for a week.
Lupillo Rivera, composer and singer of narcocorridos has been struggling against the censorship of his music for many years. In spite of the ban on narcocorridos in the radios from several state governments he will continue writing and performing his music, he stated in August 2001.
The reasons for the bans of narcocorridos are mainly that the authorities consider that they induce the use of drugs, transform the drug traffickers to heroes and promote violence. True, some narcocorridos may do that, and some have been written and composed on demand from local drug barons. But the picture is much more complex, and the real reason could be that the narcocorridos challenge the authorities celebrating the drug traffickers and mocking the police (which by the way in many cases is deeply involved in drug trafficking), creating a negative image of the State. (I do not develop more on this, unless it is necessary, as I understand others will work on this area).
Rock
Back to the 1970's rock was considered hurting to good taste and against good behaviour, and big rock concerts were regarded as a risk for public security. Thus the big rock concert at Avándaro in the 1970's was banned, radio announcers who mentioned the concert or the groups performing there, or who played pieces from the concert, were suspended for 60 days and heavily fined, because they "initiated the children and the youth to the use of drugs, and allowed their interviewees to pronounce indecent and offensive words".
The main reason for the banning was perhaps the fear of the possibility that eventual riots under or after the concert among the audience could develop to something more political. In those years a new, political opposition to the regime was developing, not least among the new, younger generations.
Saúl from one of the less controversial rock groups, Jaguares, said in an interview with the dominating tv company, TV Azteca, in december 2001 that they are still censored. "I still feel that there is a certain fear in some groups of power that many young people gather and begin to interchange ideas, because rock is also born as a symbol of freedom".
This fear has apparently survived. At least the authorities in several of the bigger cities either have banned or put severe restrictions on concerts with new groups of mainly punk musicians as late as the beginning of the 1990's, and it can still be difficult to obtain the necessary permissions to organise rock concersts. In some cases the organisers and musicians of la onda (the wave, i.e. the new, young music trend) of some of the banned concerts were summoned to the D.A. accused of having the intention of playing the same music as in Avándaro or of having been present in Avándaro.
"We have get used to that everything we come up with is censored", said one of the young groups, Apocalypshit, in an interview in 1999. "The problem of censorship is that it disinforms. That happened to us in Tamaulipas where we were told that we could not perform because they said we were satanists, that we threw buckets full of urine over the people. Can you imagine, just to fill one bucket with urine, it's damned hard!"
Certainly, many of the Mexican groups are provocative. They talk about sex, fornication, nudity, female masturbation, torture, poverty, human rights, discrimination. And of course that provokes in a society which, in spite of a modernisation process during the last 70-80 years, is still very conservative in its moral values, very religious, and still controlled by a very powerful and wealthy political and economic elite who fears the situation can run out of control leading to a new, social revolution.
One of the groups, Molotov, has become very popular, not only in Mexico, but all over the Spanish speaking world. And the four musicians have lived many of the effects of the censorship. Their first record, 'Dónde jugarán las niñas?' (Where are the girls playing?), was boycotted by the record stores who did not want to dirty their places with the cover, which showed a teenage girl with half open legs and the panties half down. So they chose to sell the record on the street and at their concerts. It became a huge success.
Censorship of records by record stores is a common phenomenon in Mexico. The reasons are practically always that the cover or the title "attempt against public morality" or "decency", or adducing fear of attacks from indignated citizens. That forces the recording companies to change titles or covers.
Marilyn Manson's 'Holly Wood' was retired from the stores because the cover, showing a crucified Manson-Christ. Nevertheless it sold several thousand copoies in a few days, according to the record company, Universal.
The Mexican underground group Pactum was forced to omit two titles from an album so that it could be sold from record stores and super markets. The titles were 'Copulating with Christ' and 'Spitting at the Bible'.
And Illya Kuryaki was forced to add a new cover over the original cover of his record 'Leche' (Milk) which showed a couple of bare female breasts.
In October 2001 the rock group Morbo had a videoclip over a song censored by MTV. According to the groups singer, Juan Carlos, the video with the song 'Se me acaba' (It is ending for me) was considered too violent by MTV. It is not the first time this happens for Morbo. It happened with the video over the song 'Enséñame' (Teach Me or Show Me) which showed homosexual (male and female) couples kissing in an elevator, while the singer was simulating an intercourse with an old woman.
Recommendation
Mexico is one of the dominating countries in creation and production in and for the Spanish speaking world. Trends and tendencies from Mexico are spread to the rest of the continent through records, videos, film and not least tv.
Thus, I consider it important to get a precise picture of the Mexican situation in its different aspects. That can probably best be done by a team of people with different specialities.
There has been some research, not specifically on censorship on music, but on music, and a lot on media. Some of the research may be useful, and some of the researchers could be part of a team.
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Mexico
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