IPN warns Canal Once archive at risk due to student strike

The National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) has issued a stark warning: a strike by a small group of students at Canal Once is jeopardizing the preservation of one of Mexico's most significant audiovisual archives. The IPN stated that the occupation of the television station's facilities impedes essential daily operations, maintenance, and the safeguarding of materials that document 67 years of the nation's history.

Canal Once, recognized internationally by UNESCO for its educational and cultural value, holds a vast collection encompassing political, social, cultural, scientific, and educational history. This archive includes materials from renowned journalist and writer Cristina Pacheco, which are inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register for Mexico. The station itself, which began broadcasting on March 2, 1959, is considered the oldest public television station in Latin America.

Specialists in archive digitization, social movements, writers, and chroniclers have expressed concern over the situation. Writer Fabrizio Mejía Madrid questioned the occupation of a public media outlet, noting, "I don't recall any social movement that has taken over a media outlet in order not to use it and, instead, destroy it." Journalist Pedro Miguel also voiced worries about the historical archive's security, stating, "This archive at risk is 67 years of national history that has fundamental importance for the country, and the fact that it cannot be accessed means it cannot be preserved as it should be, which is a discourse of the nation."