The nation’s Spanish-speaking media are joining the corporate media's effort to goose their ratings with their own special programming to commemorate the “attack on democracy by the followers of President Donald Trump”; at Univision, the special goes by the name of “Assault to the Capitol: Testing Democracy”; at Telemundo, it´s an “Attack on Democracy”. But it wasn't that long ago that these outlets gave favorable cover to an actual convicted insurrectionist.
As we watch the newscasts condemning the “insurrection”, we at MRC Latino cannot help but notice how the definition of “attack on Democracy” varies in meaning –and significance - when it originates from the left.
Case in point: Rewind to 2017 and the moment when then-President Barack Obama commuted convicted TERRORIST Oscar Lopez-Rivera, the bomb maker-in-chief of the FALN - Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional Puertoriqueña (Armed Forces of Puerto Rican National Liberation), responsible for the bomb that killed 4 and injured 43 persons at the Fraunces Tavern in New York City, in April of 1975.
The same media that today cries “insurrection” when talking about January 6, 2021, went out of their way to defend an ACTUAL attack to democracy by Lopez-Rivera, with the likes of Univision’s Jorge Ramos portraying him as a martyr under the wing of former U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez.
Possibly the most absurd on-air moment can be seen in this clip, where Gutierrez compares the FALN bomb maker and terrorist to George Washington as Jorge Ramos passively watches and offers no pushback:
CONGRESSMAN LUIS GUTIERREZ (D-IL): Like all the great leaders and heroes of the struggle for the fatherland and for their nation. That is where he will be placed. Look, if this were the war for the independence of the United States, of the 13 colonies, Oscar Lopez-Rivera, in the London newspapers, they would have said the same of him that they said of George Washington. Look, the struggle for independence is a struggle that every people has the right to and a responsibility, as Oscar has said, to do.
Another prime example of how the Hispanic media applauded an actual terrorist, can be seen in this analysis by MRC Latino Director Jorge Bonilla here.
We will be watching the heralded insurrection specials at the nation´s Spanish-speaking media, expecting little surprises, lots of fake news and parroting of the talking points furnished by the White House.
