The controversy surrounding the participation of Mexican singer Peso Pluma in the Viña del Mar Festival has reached the Chilean justice system. The Valparaíso Court of Appeals has admitted a protective appeal aimed at preventing the performance of the show scheduled for the night of Friday, March 1st.
The lawsuit was filed by a group of neighborhood leaders from the city of Viña del Mar, 120 kilometers from Santiago de Chile, and MP Luis Sánchez, a member of the far-right Republican Party. The document is directed against the mayor of the municipality, Macarena Ripamonti, a representative of the progressive Frente Amplio (FA), the left-wing coalition that emerged from President Gabriel Boric.
The court's decision implies a request to the municipality of Viñamarino as well as to the television channels TVN and Canal 13 – all organizers of the event – so that they provide, within a period of eight days, the necessary information to determine whether or not there has been a violation of the civil rights asserted in the appeal.
The appeal that we submitted together with a neighborhood leader from Viña del Mar against Mayor Ripamonti was legitimately accepted 💪🏼
The court ruled and the community, together with the TV channels, must answer why they want the drug culture in Quinta Vergara. pic.twitter.com/LcXJSQcJyF
— Rep. Luis F. Sanchez 👍🏻🇨🇱 (@sanchezdiputado) January 24, 2024
The controversy surrounding the Peso Pluma show at the Viña del Mar festival arose from an opinion by the Chilean sociologist and academic Alberto Mayol, who in a column questioned the participation of the interpreter of Ella baila sola in the festival because of the lyrics of his songs positioned him as a “sponsor of the drug trade”.
“Please imagine if I asked you what a Viña festival that violates the minimum social pact would look like. I'm not asking you to imagine a tragic celebration, I'm not asking you to imagine scenes of horror. “I just want you to speculate and imagine what a disastrous celebration would look like to you, a celebration in which the values of the entire society completely collapse,” the text begins. Later, Mayol refers to Peso Pluma's commitment, confirmed by TVN, to sing at the closing of the festival next March 1, and at which, he assures, “he will go on stage (and we all have to pretend). “We would be faced with an artist) a promoter of narco culture.”
The discussion, which took place in the academy and even reached the Chilean executive branch, focused on the role of the municipality of Viña del Mar and TVN – the Chilean state television channel – as organizers of the event. Critics of the Mexican artist believe that public institutions cannot support the show.
The complaints against Peso Pluma were heard by the TVN board, whose chairman is Francisco Vidal, a well-known political leader of the traditional center-left party. The company directly requested that the singer's show be canceled, which was rejected by the rest of the festival organization – which includes the private production company Bizarro – as there was “no legal or contractual authority” to do so. .
The Viña del Mar Festival is one of the most important musical events in Latin America. World-class artists such as Elton John, Tom Jones, Julio Iglesias, Miguel Bosé and Christina Aguilera, among others, have performed on its stage. The Mexicans Juan Gabriel, Luis Miguel, Alejandro Fernández and Marco Antonio Solís also triumphed at Quinta Vergara.
The controversy comes amid a security crisis affecting the South American country that intersects with the spread of drug culture at various levels of society. “There are a lot of goats [jóvenes] that today they are beginning to see in criminal careers a form of access to the life they want, even if it is a short life that education does not allow them anywhere,” reflected academic Juan Pablo Luna in an interview with EL PAÍS .
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