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Subscribe to RSSA video "mockumentary" that shows children as kidnappers, corrupt cops and drug traffickers sparked a fierce debate in violence-torn Mexico. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
MEXICO CITY -- A video "mockumentary" that shows children as kidnappers, corrupt cops and drug traffickers has sparked a fierce debate in violence-torn Mexico, with some people calling it a needed wake-up call while others described it as political manipulation or even child abuse.
Kids playing the role of businessmen, criminals and corrupt officials are seen robbing, paying bribes and shooting it out in a mock Mexico made up entirely of children, all to the deceptively laid-back tune of the 1970s ballad "Una Manana," or "One Morning."
Produced by a foundation supported by private companies and universities and distributed over the Internet, the video ends with a direct message to the candidates in the Mexico's July 1 presidential race.
A little girl faces the camera and says: "If this is the future that awaits me, I don't want it. Enough of working for your political parties instead of for us. Enough of cosmetic changes."
'Discomforting Kids'
Dubbed "Ninos Incomodos," roughly "Discomforting Kids," the four-minute video opens with a pudgy kid-businessman waking up in the morning dragging on a cigarette, and closes with a kiddie-version of alleged drug lord Edgar Valdez, aka "La Barbie," being dragged off to an overcrowded jail full of children by junior cops.
Little girls carrying purses scream and scurry for cover as boys their own age spray machine guns from huge SUVs and assault-rifle toting little cops run to detain them at gunpoint.
Mexicodelfuturo via AP
A child robber threatens his victim in the mockumentary about life in Mexico.
Despite the video's grim images of knife-wielding, migrant-smuggling, gun-toting kids, all the major candidates had praise for it. Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called it "well done, it's tough but it's the truth."
Earlier, the candidate of the former governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, Enrique Pena Nieto, wrote in his Twitter account: "I support the message of Discomforting Kids. I hear it all the time on the campaign trail; that 'time is running out.' It's time to renew hope and change Mexico. "
Josefina Vazquez Mota, the candidate of President Felipe Calderon's conservative National Action Party, tweeted that "the video of Discomforting Kids is a call that can't be ignored. I accept the challenge, I want to join you."
Mexico cartels, US battle in classified ads
Not everyone was happy, however.
The video's vision of a smog-choked, apocalyptic Mexico where kid cops crack down on tiny anti-corruption protesters while pint-sized lazy or corrupt politicians stand by is manipulative, and no candidate could afford to criticize it, TV critic and newspaper columnist Alvaro Cueva said.
"No sane candidate is going to say, 'I want a future with crime, a future with criminals,'" Cueva said.
He called the video damaging and "a very clear violation of the (electoral) law."
A sense of 'despair'
It is a sensitive question in Mexico, where many people believe the 2006 elections were unfairly influenced by a series of privately produced and sponsored ads that sought to inspire fear of Lopez Obrador, warning Mexicans they could "lose everything" if he were elected. He narrowly lost to Calderon.
"The only thing this video does is to further muddy the election campaigns," Cueva said. "This video does nothing but foment a sense of desperation and despair."
7 taxi drivers shot dead outside Monterrey, Mexico
While the 2006 "fear" ads against Lopez Obrador, sponsored by private business groups, benefited Calderon, Cueva thinks this year's fear-video benefits the presidential front-runner, Pena Nieto, whose PRI party has extensive machines in most states that could help him win in the event of a low voter turnout.
"When one watches this video, one loses any desire to vote, and so it foments a low turnout, and in an environment of low turnout, the winner is the PRI candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto," Cueva said.
www.nuestromexicodelfuturo.com.mx
#NiñosIncómodos
Pena Nieto's campaign was not immediately available to comment.
Others, like former presidential spokesman and political analyst Ruben Aguilar, accepted the private group's arguments that the video is an attempt to make citizens think.
"In this country, everyone thinks the worst, and they can never accept that somebody is doing something good," Aguilar said. "I think it is good, it is intelligent and it can help."
One killed every half hour in Mexico drug-related violence
The group that made the video, headed by Mexican insurance company GNP, took out full-page ads in Mexican newspapers saying it was merely reflecting the concerns of millions of citizens "who want to see themselves living in a Mexico that has left behind crime, corruption poverty, unemployment, drug trafficking."
But some objected to the video's use of children.
"It is unacceptable, scandalous, that they have shown children smoking, armed, kidnapping people with pistols and locking them in trunks," Labor Party congressman Mario di Costanzo said on the floor of Congress on Wednesday.
PRI congressman Miguel Angel Garcia Granados called on the Calderon administration to ban the video.
"We are not going to solve the big problems this country faces with sensationalism and shrillness, and certainly not by using underage children in documentaries," said Garcia Granados.
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Leave a Comment:
mexico president is the most corrupt person in this world atm,that guy needs to be replaced.
all i can say after watching this video is "Wow, what powerful images! Together they make a powerful statement to ANYONE who has a stake in Mexico's future." I whole-heartedly applaud such efforts.
I applaud the film makers, it's doing what it was meant to do. Shock and jar Mexicans into action.
Mexico is hard to figure. They have a beautiful, tourism attractive nation. They have a large and hard working populace. They have oil, natural resources, art and creativity.
Yet, Mexicans let themselves be pushed into a 3rd world stinkhole status. Their citizens stream across the border to get to the United States to work and have a relatively decent life.
Why? With proper management, Mexico could be every bit as productive and rewarding as the US. Instead of looking up to the US as Daddy and running to sit on our lap...why not have everything right there at home?
Throw the cartels, the crooked politicians, the lackluster US kissing industry and take your country back. Don't let your hard working work force come here. Reward them for their work at home. You don't have to become us...but...obviously a huge number of your citizens want that type of opportunity.
Get off your asses. Before we catch on that we can take all your good workers and send you our welfare cheats.
Sad, look at our northern border,Canada is on par with the USA,look south and WTF? mexico reminds me of the Philippines,a few familys really own the land and control things,so many poor people and no changes.RP has countrys around it doing much better.
We can search all we want, but out Country is not any better.
We do not like what we see in the mirror, but we have no problem in painting it a different color and more so point the finger at other countries.
The fact that our crooks have coat and ties, with a college degree makes it worst.
We cover it up by blaming the other Party when they are both crooks.
Richard .... you are right on the money
Diddo....
If you morons think the US is no better than Mexico, you are nuts. Why, then, do all the Mexicans sneak across the border to be here? Don't like Republicans or Democrats? Try a military dictatorship rife with corruption, death squads and oppression.
Educate yourselves on the country you live in. People aren't sneaking into Mexico, except from farther sound on the way to the US. People aren't sneaking into France, or Russia or Communist China, or Nigeria.
The US was, is and will continue to be the greatest country in the world. Even Obama, who has taken every opportunity to wreck us, is failing to do so. If you don't like this country, there are many more countries. Find one that is utopia and move your shaved rump down there.
I think we need term limits really bad,to fight corruption and get fresh blood and thinking in washington.
Steve you are 100% correct in that there is not a better Country in the world.
But the shame is that you are 100% happy with the wrong in our government.
I am sure that if you go to Russia or Comnunist China and Nigeria, you will find a lot of people that are 100% happy with their government. They are the ones that are doing the stealing or the ones that are totally blind.
I can assure you that the people in Washington are very happy with followers like yourself.
Steve you are 100% correct in that there is not a better Country in the world.
But the shame is that you are 100% happy with the wrong in our government.
I am sure that if you go to Russia or Comnunist China and Nigeria, you will find a lot of people that are 100% happy with their government. They are the ones that are doing the stealing or the ones that are totally blind.
I can assure you that the people in Washington are very happy with followers like yourself.
Steve:
Me thinks you see the world through Fox colored glasses.
BTW thousands, if not millions of people migrate to the more affluent countries of Europe. Muslims in France, Balkan people to Germany, Filipinos to everywhere, and as soon as another country offers better paying jobs, they will go there.
US citizens also emigrate all over the world to better their own life. We have gone to Japan, Mexico, India, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Europe.
In any case I'm happy for you. I can tell you love everything about the US. You have found your utopia here and see no reason to change anything.
I wonder what the US version could be? Republican elected officials taking money from the poor and giving it to corporations who in the end give it to rich shareholders?
You forgot to mention all the democrat crooks as well,stealing from taxpayers and putting it on our children and grand children with insane dept.
wow! what a powerful video! It tells exactly whats going on in Mexico and will hopefully embarrass Mexican officials to begin cracking down on all the violence, gangs, drugs, etc.
It would be even greater if it embarrass the American Voter and they begin looking at each others Party and clean it up.
Blaming the other Party is not the answer.
Remember when you were a Kid and you were told that two (2) wrongs do not make a right.
Amen, Richard
sounds to me like for some the payoff are just to big to fix
I'd like to see the same effort here in the US to bring attention to the corruption and the undeniable assault to our way of life. Children represent the future in every country. Stripping the right to a decent education is only the first step.
I don't need to understand Spanish to know that was awesome.
Sounds like CUEVA fears for his life! He couldn't possibly be against THE TRUTH!
It's time for the Mexicans to wake up! We, the 99% American People, have now woke up against corrupt corporate Republican political puppets! We can't even SELECT who we WANT to run for office, the corrupt corporates put up WHO THEY WANT for election! However, times have changed and it's time for them to give back to the 99% American People who have made them successful, NOW IT IS THEIR TURN TO GIVE BACK!
Vote STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC, the life you save may be your OWN!! And if this Democratic regime doesn't work for us, we'll install our OWN TRUE DEMOCRATIC PARTY!
And that is exactly where the statement "we have the best politicians money can buy" comes from. Corporations are allowed to "buy into" the Politician which will, in turn, grease their palms. Corporations are not people. It is the people who should be supporting and electing our Politicians.
We need Political funds limits. Make each candidate work the exact same amount of money. Let their choices in how those funds are best utilized be a prime example of how they will best oversee the use of our taxpayer money. Bad choices will not help get them elected.
Don't get too smug, this is relevant in every country. Mexicans have deep passion so don't write their future just yet.
I am at the point where I'm going to explode. Look into fuc!@#@ing FAST AND FURIOUS. Lets focus on our own criminals before we point the finger outward, and to use children in politics is a sin. Kony 2012 exploited kids and teenagers to provoke war. I'm calling for a citizens arrest for Eric Holder. Wake up people, come on, please, I'm begging. WE SHIP GUNS TO MEXICO TO CAUSE VIOLENCE and to put strain on the 2cd amendment.
Q: When did FAST AND FURIOUS program start? A: 2006
Q: Who was the AG in 2006? A: Alberto Gonzales
For a right wingnut talking point, this one is pretty weak. Find a new one please.
OK, now you can let your head explode.
This has been brewing for many decades. Yes the U.S. drug problem play into the ever growing problems drug use creates but it is not the root cause. Politics, power struggles, corruption which are all human traits have been allowed to fester and grow in Mexico with very little oversight. The people of Mexico do not want this but the Politicians, drug cartels and the police forces do. Mexico is not a safe destination any longer.
With so many of their citizens now living illegally in the U.S. in an effort to escape life in Mexico, does it make you wonder, if they had stayed and fought for their country, would Mexico be in the state it is in now or was this a forgone conclusion of what Mexico's future is and will be for the foreseeable future?
In essence we are a now a refuge nation for all who seek to escape the drug and corruption violence of Mexico and Central America. There are a lot of fingers in that pie and the chances of removing them are slim to none.
I hail this video! It is long over due and wish those children and their supporters great success in building momentum toward improving their futures.
Guns are good for population control.. Isn't anyone else concerned about human population at 8 billion. As George Carlin said, "they add a little excitement to your everyday life". Survival of the fittest.
Bravo Mexico, I am so proud of you for your courage to speak up!!!!
The article stated they wanted hope and change....I hope that it isn't the same kind of rhetoric spewed here.
So who will you be voting for? If there's an R or a D by the name, you're going to be disappointed again.
Ron Paul....SELFLESS Service
R & D candidates are are SELFISH
Perhaps this awesome video will bring the microscope down on Mexico by the rest of the world and particularly the UN. Well done.
The U.N. can't even keep a NK nut job from test launching a rocket.
Mockumentary, now we need one showing Congress doing its best at saving what from whom. Congress is not the victim of lobbyist's, corporate largesse, and insane politicians, it is the perpetrator of nonsense, nonsense designed to ruin a nation.
Trickledown economics was the idea behind the redistribution of wealth, cutting taxes is the redistribution of wealth, cutting everything in government just to reward outsourcing corporations is the redistribution of wealth.
So it is true the very people, who oppose the redistribution of wealth, then qualify their position, by assuring that the redistribution is upward, that this economic recession reverses history and encourages the propaganda that wealth must be concentrated at the top.
The hot air economics that what goes up must come down, as it will, as surely as it will rain someday, on ground that has been turned to an economic desert, rain on the bare ground, unseeded, by the starving having eaten the meager crop, year after year, does not look like a worthy investment. The Congress has opposed investment, in places where it is needed, and thrown the wealth of the nation on the burning desert ground. Promising to extract that last bit of wealth, the will of the people and to destroy it, to displace work with fashionable idleness, to offer new business on the basis that they will prosper by making more idleness, the willing target of youthful who the business know that they will not employ. Yea, plant your twitter seed, in the vacant ground, water that ground the applications, fertilize unused moments with advertisement, and pay the rent.
We don't have imagine a dry and unfertile earth, we have one, the Sahara Desert, is free to see the effects of the trickle up, hot air economics. All the water has trickled up, and even if the rain would trickle steadily down, the sand cannot nourish the seen that was not planted by the farmer who's eaten the seed and forgotten how it was the farming made food.
Ignorance is the true death tax.
Hosea 4:6
Great video! The use of children to portray the situation is brilliant! Politicians do not listen to the adult population. And it is not like the children of Mexico are sheltered from the truth there. It probably took no acting skills at all to produce the film. Just mimic what they see on a daily basis, either in their personal lives or on the news.
I was in Mexico for only a day recently. The machine toting police were EVERYWHERE. I know they were there for protection of the locals and tourists, but it was a little disconcerting that that much fire power was needed.
I hope, for the future of Mexican citizens, that the political parties wake up and take control of the situation.
After watching this video, i can only say "Wow! These powerful images make a powerful statement to anyone who has regard for the present conditions in Mexico as well as its future." Great work. Hope enough people view it.
No one is outraged when the adults do this for real but as soon as the kids are shown to mock the adults everyone is outraged. There is something wrong with those folks.
Brilliant! :-)
Tell me if their were 50,000 dead Americans, what do you think the course of action would be by the government? Get the Ruling party out and try them for Treason and return the PAN party and live and let live !!!!
Amen, kid. Can someone steal that line for the American version of the video?