NewsLatin AmericaProtest at the gates of the FIL: the local political dispute hinders the opening of the fair

Protest at the gates of the FIL: the local political dispute hinders the opening of the fair

The local politics of Jalisco has taken over the inauguration of the International Book Fair (FIL). Hundreds of protesters have blocked the main entrance of the event in support of the governor of the State of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro, who is at odds with the president of the fair, Raul Padilla, and with the committee that organizes it. The background is a dispute for the public budget that is allocated to the largest celebration of literature in Spanish, and for the management to organize an event of such magnitude, which every year takes the international gaze of the world of culture. The moment of giving the flag at the beginning of the FIL was also marked by the political fight. A group of students from the University of Guadalajara, organizer of the FIL, came out in support of the institution during the inaugural event, shouting in favor of the university authorities, who criticized the state government as “authoritarian.”

Many of the protesters who paralyzed the great access to the fair this Saturday did not even know what they were coming to claim. Others carried posters with slogans against “the prevailing corruption” in the FIL organization. Everyone knew that they were protesting against a certain Padilla. A handful of people who came to the place to show their support for Governor Alfaro reproached this newspaper for the budget increase that the organization of the event and the university demand each year.

“The group that controls the University of Guadalajara demands more budget under the pretext that what you have is not enough for them, we all know that it is not enough because the money that should be for the students is used for their private businesses,” it read. in one of the brochures they handed out to passers-by, “it will never reach as long as a few continue to steal it.” Guillermo Gonzalez, one of the protesters, assures that he is part of a support group for the governor and has come to claim in favor of democracy, “because the governor has been elected by the people, not like those of the FIL.” Luis, another Protestant, adds: “We have come to ask that the robbery stop now.”

Protesters arriving at the Fair this morning.

During the inauguration, Padilla criticized the governor and regretted that the relaunch of the fair after the covid pandemic “coincided with an authoritarian drift of the Government, which is taking its intolerance to freedom of expression and criticism.” The rector of the University, Ricardo Villanueva, has joined the claims and has called to protect the fair from political interests. “When power threatens the FIL, we all defend it, its teachers and students defend it,” he said.

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