Oaxaca, Mexico: Associated Press reports falsehood

The Associated Press:

The protests erupted in late June after police attacked a demonstration of striking teachers looking for a wage increase. Since then, thousands of demonstrators have camped out in the center of Oaxaca, spraying buildings with revolutionary slogans, smashing hotel windows and building makeshift barricades.

This is completely untrue. Where do they get their reporters? How much do they pay these people? The police did not attack a demonstration. The police struck at 4:30 in the morning. When was the last time you ever heard of a demonstration at 4:30 in the morning. The police attacked the tent city in the city's center which had been there for 3 weeks, not "since then" (the police attack). The police action did not trigger the campout nor the barricading of the streets. The police action was an effort (a miserable failure, I might add) to remove the barricades and get the tent city and its inhabitants, the striking teachers, out of the city's center. And this:

Gunmen attack Oaxaca student radio station

One could, I suppose, argue that the radio station which may or may not have been attacked, is a "student radio station". The AP fails to mention that the striking teachers took control of the radio station some weeks ago when their own station was taken off the air by the authorities. The station is no longer the university's or the students'. It belongs to the teachers.

The AP says, "authorities said" and "the state government said" in reporting the alleged attack. The state Secretary of the Interior, as reported in the previous post, has accused the teachers' supporters of staging the attack. I quote his statement (translated to English) and give his name. The AP quotes no one and gives no names as their "authorities". Who is the AP's source for this information.

The AP report credits Iaon Grillo in Mexico City as having contributed to the report which was written by one Rebecca Romero who must be in New York or London or someplace. I have seen some of Grillo's work before and have no particular bone to pick with him. Maybe the AP should start allowing Grillo to edit its stories from Mexico rather than just contributing to same. Better yet, before reporting a story from Oaxaca, Mexico, it might be a good idea to actually send someone to Oaxaca, Mexico.

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers' strike, Associated Press