from Heriberto Yipez

For my English speaking friends a youtube video on what's happening in Tijuana in terms of cultural politics since Mexico City officials decided to stop what's taking place here, and put as head of the main cultural institution in the region a person identified with their corrupt and conservative stance, putting an abrupt end to the collective / contemporary model several generations of borders writers/artists developed independently and which soon influenced the way institutions fuctioned in the region. But that has stopped from their side—not ours. We are starting a regional and national movement to bring critical democracy to cultural politics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_2ga5M8coM

Some background info:

--in May a guy called Virgilio Muñoz was appointed directly by the Mexican president (here's the proof: ) to head Cecut (Tijuana Cultural Center); that same guy that back in the 90's lost his job at the National Immigration Institute here because he was receiving 30,000 dlls a month from smugglers, according to the main human rights activist in Tijuana then (Centro Binacional de Derechos Humanos).
--We organized a movement against that not only because this guy is a symbol of total corruption (and know nothing about art) but because we knew this was part of a bigger turn on national politics: stopping the growth of contemporary art (mainly critical) by the government (from the right) and simply not knowing what do to and using cultural institutions/programs as part of their ring of corruption (putting friends there/making money out of bureacracy, etc).
--Just some weeks ago the Mexican federal governmnet announced it was going to stop supporting many exhitions around the country, leaving many many curators/artists/etc without their exhibitions and jobs. The excuse is the crisis. The real reason: a takeover. And they want to . This began as a Tijuana protest (where 300 people a letter asking for the resignation of this guy, that letter included practically every important writer and artist from the city and obviously students/activists/cultural workers) but now, because of the cut ordered, Mexico City artists/curators/etc are getting involved.
--We have been making protest, using youtube, the media to spread information on what's happening in the border and just yesterday Mexico City artists had a meeting to decide what are they going to do--some museums are losing 80% of their activities.

If you read Spanish I've been putting info on my blog since May.

--Heriberto Yipez