Thread: Poet fined for insulting Mexican flag, calls ruling threat t

Poet fined for insulting Mexican flag, calls ruling threat to free speech

ASSOCIATED PRESS

3:21 p.m. May 8, 2008

MEXICO CITY – A Mexican poet has been fined about US$5 (euro3.25) for desecrating the country's flag by writing a poem about using it to wipe up urine and excrement.

Poet Sergio Witz Rodriguez published the poem in a magazine in the southern state of Campeche in 2000 and could have faced as many as four years in prison under a law protecting the flag and national insignia.

Judge Jose de Jesus Banales said in the ruling that the fine was small, but symbolic: [b]“It will set an example so that people do not abuse freedom of expression, and to discourage anti-social behavior.â€

[quote]His poem rejects nationalist values, with the opening lines: “I / clean my urine / on the flag / of my country / That rag / that dogs lie on / and that represents nothing.â€

You know its time we adopt and enforce some of Mexico's laws here for ourselves. YA BABY