Ideas and counterweights
The plurality of the discussion was reflected in the fact that the debate was not limited to that virtual room. Simultaneously, users like Karina Almaraz (@almarazkari) opened the #NoTodosSomosLoret space, which was also joined by hundreds of participants.
In that forum, the attendees insisted on the need not to focus the discussion on the particular case of Loret, but rather on looking at the set of problems that journalists experience in Mexico, particularly in the states: low salaries, lack of benefits, lack of safety conditions to be able to work…
Some users even considered it necessary to question Loret’s journalistic work, while others emphasized that not joining the hashtags #TodosSomosLoret does not imply supporting the attitudes of López Obrador and Morena against the press.
At this point, there was a confrontation with columnist Pedro Miguel, close to the president, who entered the room, asked to speak and accused the journalists of “arrogance” because, he argued, they are not the only victims of violence but the citizenry as a whole. This comment caused annoyance and Pedro Miguel was expelled from the place.
Let what he said this morning stay in our hearts @navigationsPeter Michael.
“They are not killing journalists, they are killing Mexicans.”
I never thought that Morena would make us.
– Karina Almaraz ??? (@almarazkari)
February 12, 2022
And so, it was 9, 10, 11, 12, 1… and after 2:00 on Saturday, there were still 22,000 connected users wanting to participate only in the #TodoSomosLoret room.
Hours before, in the afternoon, President López Obrador said he was celebrating the debate in these times. “It is a stellar moment in the history of Mexico, it is a process of transformation. And let’s go forward, to the confrontation of ideas, to dialogue, to debate, ”he assured at the start of his tour in Sonora.
At night, from the virtual spaces, there was debate, there were claims, there were calls to action.
“Something broke this Friday…”. Yes, the silence was broken.
