If you grew up in a house with more than one child, your parents surely told you at some point that there is always more than one side to any story. You may have heard the gossip mill around town that the King of Carnaval, Roberto Tirado, is threatening to resign, due to maltreatment by CULTURA. This morning he held a press conference to quelch that rumor. He proudly declared that he loves Mazatlán, that he is of the “pueblo,” and that he will proudly and energetically serve out his duties.

So why all the fuss? Well, there have been quite a few publications feeding the frenzy. CULTURA has told, or perhaps “leaked,” to the press that our new King has arrived late to official functions, and yesterday that he didn’t show up for the unveiling of his float. CULTURA says they called him several times and he didn’t pick up. The Prince was there, as were the dancers, to make sure the float would accommodate everyone; they were only missing the King. Rumor is that he’s “difficult.”

His side of the story is that he is a single working father of two young daughters and isn’t allowed to carry his cell phone at work. He showed us printed WhatsApp messages showing that CULTURA has notified him of official events late the evening before. He explained that late at night he is unable to request time off from work for the very next morning. Such, he claims, was the case with the unveiling of his royal float. He missed it, he says, because he didn’t even see the message until morning, when he was already on his way to work. And, he needs his job to sustain his family.

Roberto also complained of discrimination. According to him, his handler has insulted his choice of clothing as being “like a clown,” and repeatedly complains that he is from the “barrio.” Roberto told us he was not given a seat in the Angela Peralta Theater during the election of the queens, and that his daughters were separated from him and provided no supervision—one is a hemophiliac.

We asked Roberto what he wanted to achieve by holding the press conference this morning. “To get more respect from CULTURA. To have them communicate with me more clearly and in a timely manner. We are all on the same team.” We also asked him if he’d talked to the higher-ups at CULTURA about his concerns—with the Director, Oscar Blancarte, for example. “No, I don’t have access to them; only to my handler,” he responded.

Is holding a public press conference is going to result in better teamwork or more respectful communication? Probably not, but we can hope. Roberto has achieved his lifelong dream of becoming King of Carnaval; it should be a joyous time in his life. Instead, he broke into tears of heartbreak and shame during his press conference when explaining the humiliation he has suffered and how embarrassed he was in front of his daughters, who were so excited to see their father as Carnaval royalty.

This article started by saying there are two sides to very story. However, I think everyone can agree that he was elected the King of Carnaval and Carnaval begins in about a week. Let’s stop pointing fingers and work together. This is not rocket science.

Here is a short video where you can hear Roberto introduce himself and state that he is not resigning his position and proudly state his feelings for Mazatlan and Carnaval.

Here is a link to the remainder of the press conference. It is all in Spanish and way too long to translate for our readers (and too large to upload to Word Press). However, if you watch it, even with basic or no Spanish skills, you will see:

• How thrilled he is to be the King of Joy
• How important his children (hijas) are to him and how he does want them attacked or mistreated due to his role as punching bag for the press
• How the press tries to trap him with long-winded questions filled with accusations

See you at Carnaval!