Telemundo´s apparent “ownership” of the tragic story of Wilton Gutiérrez, a 10-year-old Nicaraguan migrant found alone and terrified by a Border Patrol agent in the Texas desert on April 1st, seems to give the NBC sister station the right to judge, intrude and insert their politics into private, parent-child relationships in their quest for a major story a la Elián González.
The network showed just how little concern they have for the minor’s well-being during a tell-all interview with the child´s maternal uncle. To add drama, hosts Nacho Lozano and Aranxta Loizaga, from the morning talk show Hoy Día, pitted the uncle, Misael Obregón- who lives in the US- against the child's father, appearing via phone from Nicaragua.
That was disgusting enough, but then Lozano turned his attention to the political implications of the tug-o-war going on between the mother, the father, the uncle, Nicaragua and the United States, comparing the events to that of Elián González, the 5-year-old Cuban boy that set off an international custody battle in 2000.
NACHO LOZANO: I don't want to leave this matter pending- it seems that there is, I insist, returning to what we were talking about in the previous segment, a dispute that can become political and I cannot stop thinking about the case of Elián González that happened in the year 2000; a Cuban boy who became the center of a dispute that became political. Do you see any resemblance between that case and the one of your nephew?
MISAEL OBREGON: Of course.
NACHO: Why?
OBREGON: Because the government is politicizing this. And they want to repatriate the child, and if the child doesn't want to, they can't force him back to Nicaragua.
NACHO: What are you going to do to defend your nephew's will?
OBREGON: There are many lawyers working on that, and they are not going to let it happen.
NACHO: You already have lawyers. Did you hire them or is any institution providing them to you?
OBREGON: An institution is sponsoring us.
More than once during the interview, Lozano diverted the conversation to politics, since the child's father is now requesting that he be returned to his home country through the Nicaraguan government. At the same time, his maternal uncle is seeking his custody from US authorities. Wilton´s mother is currently in Mexico, free after being let go by cartel abductors following her deportation from the United States.
In the interest of not leaving Telemundo’s political implications “pending”, Lozano led the questioning to where the network´s interest lie: “I insist…(this is) “a dispute that can become political and I cannot stop thinking about the case of Elián González that happened in the year 2000; a Cuban boy who became the center of a dispute that became political. Do you see any resemblance between that case and the one of your nephew?”
Obregón’s affirmative answer sets the stage for the next question: “What are you going to do to defend your nephew's will?”. “You already have lawyers. Did you hire them or is any institution providing them to you? To which the uncle answered: “An institution is sponsoring us.”
Does that institution sponsor Telemundo´s despicable and exploitative use of Wilton too?
Help us call out the advertisers that enable the blatant bias in the Spanish-speaking media here.
