PRI does the least it can do and wishes Diario a 'happy birthday'

While the entire country was busy anticipating the celebration of its 197th birthday on Saturday, Xalapa Diario turned 64 on Thursday. And to celebrate, Diario filled its ad space with birthday wishes from local supporters. I guess that’s what any paper would do when trying to find a way to make some mention of its big day without totally compromising the quality of its delivery of that day’s news.

However, more interesting than what the ads had to say was who they came from. Six of the seven ads were sponsored by local organizations such as SNTE, a local labor union, and Cooperativo, the local public bus system. The only birthday wisher that stood out was the Veracruz PRI committee. As opposed to the other ad-sponsors, PRI directly owns Diario. After its sweeping victory in last week’s elections, I suppose the least PRI could do is wish a happy anniversary to the newspaper that made sure to fill its pages with center spread articles and back page ads of the party in the weeks leading up to the elections.