In four days, electoral campaigns were añready halfway. Of course, it was to be expected that in this vie for power and for different projects for the development of our country, there would be attacks and harsh criticism among the five candidates running for President of the Mexican Republic. However, polarization and verbal attacks within the political arena and among social media users are reaching unforeseen levels.
Sometimes it is direct, others under the guise of black humor, but the message sent is that of hate, intolerance, and a lack of acceptance to other people having different opinions to ours.
In these pages and in several news outlets, several voices have cautioned about the dangers. Last Monday, for instance, Carlos Loret de Mola , in his usual contribution for EL UNIVERSAL, exposed the need for an agreement in which candidates commit to stop employing verbal attacks in order to contain their sympathizers and condemn those who resort to them. From his perspective, “verbal violence is out of control and is taken lightly, without realizing it translates easily into physical violence, from aggression to murder.”
Today, Gabriel Guerra states in his article that in a country disrupted by violence, animosity, and division, it's an obligation to acknowledge words do have consequences and that what some might see as clowning around, for others it could be an encouragement to perform violent actions.
During the current election, several candidates to local offices have been murdered. Yesterday, the candidate of the center-right Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) running for local deputy in District 17 of Guerrero was found dead inside his vehicle. With this tragic event, there is a toll of 12 candidates murdered in the state and 18 in others. Although thus far it cannot be proved they are related to verbal attacks, we should not wait until it happens.
Verbal attacks come from all groups equally. In these confrontations, even the business elite has gotten involved through the distribution of foldouts in the national press to set a position regarding the need of respectful dialogue.
If moderation measures aren't adopted now, the candidate who wins the election will face a panorama of animosity. Mexico needs to arrive united to July 2 . We're still on time and the time for action is now.
am