Mexican cardinal says press misconstrued his comments on tortillas

Published: 2007-01-24

MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- Mexican Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera said the nation's press misconstrued his statement on a spike in tortilla prices that has hurt the nation's poor. In a press conference following his weekly Mass at Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral Jan. 21, Cardinal Rivera said that the press took his statement from the week before -- that the price increase "isn't a tragedy" -- and published it out of context. The following day, many Mexican dailies published headlines such as "Cardinal minimizes tortilla price increases." Cardinal Rivera's spokesman, Father Hugo Valdemar, said the press seized on the phrase and published it without including the reporter's question, asking if the Catholic Church foresaw a "social crisis" due to the price hikes. Father Valdemar said the statement, when published without the question, "makes it seem that the cardinal is minimizing the problem." Cardinal Rivera had told the press: "Tortillas will not cause an outbreak of civil war; many Mexicans will suffer, but it isn't a tragedy, it's not the last straw."

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