Imperialism and Hegemonic Information in Latin America : The Media Coup in Venezuela vs. the Criminalization of Protest in Mexico

An analysis of current performance of Latin American media groups based on the propaganda model illustrates how the mass media operate as effective transmitters of messages funded on strategic criteria of manipulation of information to mould, predict and control public behaviour of the middle classes and popular sectors towards a colonial and imperialist logic, as evidenced by the recent media coups lived in the region. The data reveals a steady and steely representation of interests and criteria of the elites in newspaper accounts of vital issues for the countries of the South, which have been under the hegemonic control of foreign cultural industries for decades. Moreover, it has become clear how, after the long neoliberal night, there have been substantial changes in the bases and problems of the structure of the information, especially regarding the neo-colonial role that hegemonic information from the North plays. The governments of progress in the region introduced in the public debate observable historical contradictions created by the imbalance in the dominant structure of the information against the right of access, popular communication and, of course, the rights of professionals, citizens and civil society in general. Two illustrative cases of the social logic of journalistic mediation in Latin America are analysed: Mexico and Venezuela. These case studies illustrate the repetition of history as a farce as the result of information dependence and the violation of human rights as has occurred before in imperial US projects such as Operation Condor.