Fuera!

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There is a lot to say about our recent disaster(s)… and the fallout — social, political and economic — of the double-whammy hurricanes that struck last week, but one of the weirder scandals has been the fallout over Laura Brozzo’s “rescue mission” on her Televisa program, in which the Peruvian exile (a former mistress of Peruvian secret police chief and chief torturer for the Fujimori regime, Vladimiro Montesinos) flew into the disaster zone in rescue helicopers provided by the State of Mexico… for a “made for TV” event.

For my U.S. readers Brozzo is a female version of Jerry Springer… but with all the wit and charm of Anne Coulter. REAL journalist Carmen Aristegui (CNN, etc.) questioned the ethics of both Brozzo and the officials of the state of Mexico in using rescue equipment … and taking advantage of a traumatized village’s survivors … for a television program.

Which led to Brozzo “calling out” Aristegui, claiming the acclaimed journalist just sits behind her desk in a studio while Brozzo goes into the field, as she did in Peru during an earthquake. Which led to Aristequi and other Mexican reporters checking with Peruvian rescue workers, who don’t quite recall it that way….

… and so it goes. As of this writing, there are something over a quarter nillion signatures on an on-line petition to the Secretaría de Gobernacion (the Interior Ministry) to declare Brozzo an undesirable alien, and deport her back too her native Peru… for being … welll… undesirable.

Much less amusing are the serious issues raised about the misuse of resources meabt for disaster relief for an entertainment program… and the media’s responsiblity to the nation in a time of crisis. More when I return after the first of the month…

(short precis of the controversy at ADN: ¿Por qué generaron polémica Carmen Aristegui y Laura Bozzo?