UPDATE, December 7, 2012: El Diario resintstated the column.
This morning, a Google search of New York's El Diario column called "Un criminal con suerte," a scathing indictment of boxing legend Héctor "Macho" Camacho, shows that the original column is no longer on El Diario's website. When someone clicks on the El Diario link for the column, an ERROR 404 shows up. Here is a screen grab what readers get now:
However, an online downloadable PDF of the original column was posted on Scribid earlier this morning. An excerpt of the column also appears here.The column, which is part of the newspaper's Pico y Muerdo ("I Peck/Sting/Pick at You and Bite") blog, criticizes the public's sympathy towards Camacho's violent death last week. The column basically called the boxing legend an embarrassment to all Puerto Ricans, a charlatan, a caricature, a puppet, and yes, a criminal. It said that Camacho's antics were disrespectful and his attempt to resurrect his career and image through his Univision appearances later in life were laughable and should be condemned. Reader comments on the post were extremely negative of the column, calling it disrespectful towards Camacho, who died Saturday from gunshots he suffered in Puerto Rico last week.
We have reached out to El Diario for comment about the column, but could only leave a voice mail to the newspaper's editorial staff. When we called the New York office of ImpreMedia, El Diario's parent company, we were told to contact the company's Los Angeles office, which is not open yet as of this post. Once we hear from both El Diario and ImpreMedia for comment, we will share what they had to say.
Now, we understand that sometimes editorial companies have to remove content from their site (this page once removed a post that contained too many threatening comments that jeopardized the personal safety of a few of our editors, and we were transparent about it), but we would think that a major news publication like El Diario would at least be ready to respond quickly or offer an online statement as to why the column is no longer on its site.
I’m not so bothered by this. Camacho was a controversial figure in many aspects. From his flamboyant style he carried on in the right to the life he lived outside and after his career. I get the point that we should not speak ill of the dead and he has a family in mourning, but historically people are known by their actions. Going out at age 50 in a drug dispute isn’t pretty. I think we should remember Macho for his accomplishments in the ring and grant him the dignity that all human beings deserve in passing. The life he lived and death he died are all parts of deeper tragedies of the lifestyles adopted in the streets and how deep these lifestyles are internalized to the point of not being shaken off by fame and money. However, at the end of the day, we must recognize the “greatness” of Macho for what it was, he was a great fighter, just like we can remember Bobby Clemente as a great baseball player. It’s just that the loss of Clemente robbed us of somebody that was so much more than a great athlete and nothing can be disputed about that.
I’m not so bothered by this. Camacho was a controversial figure in many aspects. From his flamboyant style he carried on in the ring to the life he lived outside and after his career. I get the point that we should not speak ill of the dead and he has a family in mourning, but historically people are known by their actions. Going out at age 50 in a drug dispute isn’t pretty. I think we should remember Macho for his accomplishments in the ring and grant him the dignity that all human beings deserve in passing. The life he lived and death he died are all parts of deeper tragedies of the lifestyles adopted in the streets and how deep these lifestyles are internalized to the point of not being shaken off by fame and money. However, at the end of the day, we must recognize the “greatness” of Macho for what it was, he was a great fighter, just like we can remember Bobby Clemente as a great baseball player. It’s just that the loss of Clemente robbed us of somebody that was so much more than a great athlete and nothing can be disputed about that.
We agree with you @DignityPeace on the issue of Camacho and his life, but we just wonder why a major publication like El Diario would pull a column with no explanation.
@latinorebels I’m sure it had to do with people in mourning who took offense and called in threatening to cancel, boycott, etc. I am ambiguous towards it because we need to be honest about people and compassionate towards the circumstances of why they are the way we are. It also raises the bigger question of who we aggrandize and why. Being able to beat the hell out of somebody really isn’t a virtue even if it is truly amazing to watch. And I say this as somebody who probably errors on the side of putting to much emphasis in sports.
We hear you @DignityPeace. We agree with you on that. The issue for us is why a major news publication just delete front-page column with no explanation.
[…] rolled around. I guess everyone was done mourning. By then the commentary had turned into vicious criticism and victim blaming. Crime is about violence, power and control. Clearly, no one deserves it. Murder is […]
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