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Judi Lynn

(160,211 posts)
Tue Jul 12, 2016, 09:33 PM Jul 2016

In Oaxaca, reporters covering teachers' union protests face violence, threats

In Oaxaca, reporters covering teachers' union protests face violence, threats

By Jan-Albert Hootsen/CPJ Mexico Correspondent
July 12, 2016 3:19 PM ET.

The atmosphere in Nochixtlán, a small, rural community in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca, was tense on June 20. The day before, members of a dissident teachers' union had clashed with federal and state police while protesting education reform. Shots were fired and, by the end of the day, nine people had died and dozens more were wounded.

The main highway connecting the town with the state capital, Oaxaca, about 50 miles (80 km) further to the southeast, has been blocked since by the burned-out carcasses of cars and trucks, and piles of dirt, rocks, and wood. Dozens of residents and striking teachers manning the blockade have painted anti-government slogans on the concrete of an overpass and are wary of anyone trying to pass--including reporters.

"We don't want any government media here," Lucia Avendaño Mayoral, a spokesperson for the teachers manning the blockade, told CPJ two weeks ago. "They only tell the official version of the stories, but they don't give the complete picture. We want the truth to be told."

CPJ, several foreign outlets, and a number of smaller, independent Mexican media were allowed to stay after identifying themselves to the protesters. But some of the teachers played hardball with others. Cameraman Fernando Albarrán and editor Pedro Cortés, of TV Azteca, the smaller of two major networks that dominate Mexican television, were held by protesters for about five hours on June 21, according to reports.

More:
https://cpj.org/x/6910 .

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