Canal Once's historic archive threatened by protest occupation

Mexico's public television channel Canal Once, operated by the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, holds a 67‑year audiovisual archive that includes the Cristina Pacheco collection, the pioneering program “Hoy en la Cultura” and the first televised mathematics class from March 2, 1959. The channel has twice received UNESCO's highest award for its educational and cultural programming.

A small group of protesters has occupied the station’s facilities, halting routine maintenance and raising fears that the priceless archive could be damaged or destroyed. Columnists and cultural figures such as Fabrizio Mejía Madrid and journalist‑poet Pedro Miguel warned that the occupation jeopardizes a fundamental part of Mexico’s recent history and its representation of the nation’s cultural memory.