Shakedown in Oaxaca

There's a war on journalists, literally, in Mexico. Fuck Judith Miller, who may have actually been the original source of the Valerie Plame leak. South of the border they're being attacked and intimidated for publishing the truth.
 

An amazing photographer from here in West Philly -- JJ Tiziou -- has been down in Oaxaca, Mexico, and he's taken photos of the standoff between journalists at the newspaper Noticias and the government-supported bullies.

 

I urge you to check it out -- the story is compelling, and it's getting next to zero press over here.

 

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists Web site :

 

"The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the violent removal of 31 employees from the offices of the Oaxaca-based daily Noticias. The employees had been confined to their offices for the last several weeks, due to a blockade erected by a striking, pro-government union.

Around 8 p.m. Monday night, dozens of unidentified people stormed the offices of the newspaper, pulled journalists and press workers out of the building, and destroyed computers and furniture, according to local press reports. Raciel Martínez, a reporter with Noticias, told CPJ that some of the individuals wore masks and carried sticks, bottles, and pipes. A few suffered bruises, the reporter said, but no serious injuries were reported.

The intruders arrived at the newspaper with officials of the Oaxaca Attorney General's Office, according to Noticias. State police who arrived on the scene did not intervene, the Mexico City-based daily Reforma reported."