To whom it may concern,
My high school Spanish isn’t good enough anymore to compose a letter in that language, so I hope you’ll excuse my English…
Although I am an American, I have been following the scattered news reports of the street protests against the Ruiz government in Oaxaca, Mexico. I am very concerned about the impending crisis and hope that you stay safe as you continue to fight for this just cause.
I am also concerned, though about the lack of news reports about it in our country’s media, so when I saw your request to your readers to get news about it out to the international media I responded by sending this email to my local paper:
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Nov. 26, 2006
Managing Editor
Desert News
Salt Lake City, Utah
Dear Mr. Hall,
A major crisis has been developing in Mexico over the past five months starting with the announcement of the extremely questionable results of the Mexican presidential election, which resulted in mass protests by millions of citizens in Mexico City.
The escalating violence reached crisis proportions yesterday, in Oaxaca, Mexico, yet isn’t mentioned anywhere in your paper.
http://elenemigocomun.net/2006/11/popular-movement-suffers-another-brutal-day/
Why isn’t the Deseret News reporting on this?
Forget the Iraqi civil war. (Which, by the way, you also dropped the ball on.) The next potential civil war we must pay attention to is in Mexico.
My family and I are increasingly turning to excellent investigative news sources on the internet, because the Desert News, our local paper, would rather report fluff or publish verbatim governmental press releases instead of news happenings that have far more critical implications for our state, nation and world..
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Unfortunately, I don’t think my letter will do much good, (the Desert News is a very conservative paper) but at least they will know that a few of their readers are noticing their lack of reporting on this issue.
Thanks you for the good job you do on getting the news out on YOUR website, though.
Joycelynn D. Straight
South Salt Lake
jsbusbills@yahoo.com
December 1, 2006
To the editor:
Your publishing of about eight Associated Press articles about Oaxaca without attribution over the last month follows upon your publication of the AP piece attributed to Rebecca Romero riddled with disinformation on which your readership must certainly have commented.
However, like the earlier piece, the more recent ones ignores the reality on the ground and assumes a dismissive tone to the calls for the resignation of the Governor of Oaxaca and fails to mention the origins of the broad social movement urging his resignation, the widespread and systematic abuses of human rights by the government with which striking teachers and their supporters have contended since June, or the fact that all murders and ‘disappearances’ have been of protestors or their supporters at the hands of Mexican government forces.
Meanwhile Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have not failed to notice the many demonstrators who have been killed, tortured, or simply ‘disappeared’ by the police and paramilitaries.
I would like your public editor or ombudsperson to reconsider publication of either Rebecca Romero’s or any Associated Press piece until the AP is able to provide a perspective on the conflict which does not merely parrot Mexican State disinformation and which carefully and respectfully considers the reasons that 100s of thousands continue to march against the governor and the police violence.
Robert Jereski
2 Tudor City Place, Apt. 9AS
New York, NY 10017
212.973.1782
for your information i’ve included this link to photographs of the most recent megamarch and the repression with which it was met by PFP (federal mexican police):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mexicosolidarity/page3/