Remigio Ángel González
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Remigio Ángel González is a Mexican-born owner of the Latin American media network Albavisión. He has lived in
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since 1987. The network (previously named Televideo Services) is named for his wife Alba Elvira Lorenzana, who is from Guatemala. González was estimated to be worth $350m in 2002,Will Weissert,
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
, 9 June 2002
Domination of Latin airwaves has 'Ghost' scaring his critics
/ref> and by some accounts is now worth $2bn. González has a conservative political stance, but he aims to keep a low profile and cooperate with host country governments. As part of this strategy, he is said to have modified the editorial lines of his stations, particularly in
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...
and
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...
, to accommodate government preferences.


Albavisión

The foundation for the Albavisión network, created in May 2008, was laid in 1981 when González acquired his two Guatemalan television stations (Canal 3 and 7). At the time, González was a sales representative for Mexico's
Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...
, selling its programming in Central America, and used Televisa's loan backing to acquire the station. In the mid-1990s he acquired Guatemala's Canal 13, and completed a "virtual monopoly control of that nation's commercial television airwaves". In January 2010 the Albavision network had 26 television stations (including La Red (Chile), ATV (Peru), SNT (Paraguay) and Canal 9 (Argentina) and 82 radio stations.Dom Serafini, ''Video Age International''
Central American Television Touched By An Angel
January 2010
Many Latin American countries have laws restricting foreign ownership, and as a result the network has a range of "phantom companies run by local relatives, friends and stand-ins"; his Guatemalan properties are in his (Guatemalan) wife's name. Through Albavision, González controls four television stations in Guatemala—El Super Canal, Televisiete , Teleonce and Trecevisión—attaining a monopoly of commercial television channels inside the country. He also controls three of
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...
's nine television stations (Channels 10 and 4 (until 2018)). As of May 2018, all the stations González owns, operates or advises in Nicaragua have sons and daughters of Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the Junta of Na ...
, an associate of González, running them. González also owns three stations in
Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
, as well as five in the south of his native México. channel 13 méxico A 2001 study of González's media properties in Guatemala and Nicaragua found that they had a tendency to squeeze out voices opposed to the government, and concluded that "Gonzalez’s ownership practices create an atmosphere that undercuts the development of democracy."Rockwell, Rick and Janus, Noreene (2001), "Stifling Dissent: the fallout from a Mexican media invasion of Central America", ''Journalism Studies'', 2: 4, 497 — 512 He has a strong influence in Guatemalan politics, for example giving $650,000 to
Vinicio Cerezo Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo (born 26 December 1942) is a Guatemalan politician and the current Secretary General of the Central American Integration System (SICA). He served as President of Guatemala from 14 January 1986 to 14 January 1991. ...
's 1985 presidential campaign, as well as more than $2.6 million and free airtime to Alfonso Portillo's 1999 campaign. "Political analysts say the free commercials helped Portillo win the election." After becoming president, Portillo "named Gonzalez's brother-in-law, Luis Rabbe, as his minister of communications, infrastructure and housing, a powerful Cabinet position whose jurisdiction includes the oversight of broadcast media." As of August 2018, Gonzalez owned 35 television channels, 114 radio stations and two newspaper companies in 11 Latin American countries.


References

http://www.poder360.com/article_detail.php?id_article=5236&pag=1


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Remigio Angel Living people 1944 births Mexican television company founders Businesspeople from Nuevo León