For the fourth year in a row, Felipe Calderón’s government proposes to cut from culture subsector’s budget the amount of MXN 2 thousand 538 million, of which MXN 2 thousand 100 million would be taken away from Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CNCA)’s budget equivalent to 42%.
The Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), 91%, and the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, 12.1%, will be the worst affected entities.
From MXN 4 thousand 900 million that the House authorized this year for the CNCA, Calderón proposed to destine only MXN 2 thousand 800 million 84 thousand 732, amount lower than the MXN 3 thousand million spent by the current administration celebrating the independence bicentennial.
This backward step is more significant if you take into consideration that this amount is lower than the budget allocated in 2008, when the approved budget for the subsector was of MXN 9 thousand 423 million.
Currently, Calderón’s administration is planning to drop to MXN 8 thousand 920 million 636 thousand 187, the MXN 11 thousand 459 million 498 thousand 804 initially approved for this year
Uncomfortable realms
Emilio Ulloa Pérez and Alfonso Suárez del Real, former Presidents of the Culture Commission, pointed out that this is a step backward and a hard blow on culture. “It is sad to see that Kenia López Rabadán, President of the Commission and member of PAN, is taking this step back and not giving the right attention to a fundamental area to hold back violence and offer alternatives to youngsters”, stated Ulloa.
Suárez del Real affirmed that this is the hardest blow that the federal government has given to culture. Thus, it could be stated “that Felipe Calderón’s budgets are destined for war; they don’t support social, educational, and cultural development as tools to strengthen the social fabric and, therefore, as tools to prevent crimes”.
From 2006, in his first budget proposal, Calderón sent to the Chamber of Deputies a budget for culture of MXN 4 thousand million, MXN 2 thousand million below the budget spent during the last year of Vicente Fox’s administration (MXN 6 thousand million). Even though Calderón suggested a budget for culture of 4 thousand million, the Chamber approved 7 thousand 434 million.
Alfonso Suárez del Real noted that with this proposed budget for next year it is clear that for Felipe Calderón’s government “culture and history are uncomfortable. It is clear now why there was so much insistence on appointing Kenia López as President of the Culture Commission, who shares the government’s priorities, which are neither those of culture’s subsector nor those of the audiences”.
Members of the PAN party consider that “culture is only for elites, for a minority, and forget that it is also for large audiences. Entertainment is part of culture. They prioritize massive entertainment, but leave on TV companies’ hands this country’s cultural life”.
Emilio Ulloa brought to our attention that at the beginning of his six year administration, Calderón proposed to cut more than 40% of culture’s budget, and he is trying to do the same now by lowering to MXN 8 thousand million culture’s budget, even though the Chamber approved MXN 11 thousand 900 million.
“Facing this terrible situation, I can only feel upset and ask the directors of the affected institutions to express publicly; so far I have not heard their voices”, were his words.
To read the rest of the news, in Spanish, please visit: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/09/29/index.php?section=cultura&article=a03n1cul
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/09/29/index.php?section=cultura&article=a03n1cul