repost from iflizwerequeen

Sources for story:  NOT the New  York Times;  NOT the Washington Post;  NOT Fox News;  NOT MSNBC.   Instead:  The Guardian UK; Narco News;The Smirking Chimp; Democracy Now

A Mexican activist, mathematician and writer claims she has fallen foul of a US blacklist after a plane on which she was a passenger was denied access to American air space.

Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar, a Mexican citizen, had been on her way from Mexico City to Italy via Spain for a conference last week when her flight was turned back. She believes it was because of charges against her in Bolivia two decades ago involving a revolutionary group, the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army. She was arrested at the time but the charges were later dropped.  Her former husband, Álvaro García Linera, now vice-president of Bolivia, was also arrested and the charges dropped.

The US maintains a blacklist of thousands of people not permitted either entry to the country or to be aboard a plane using its air space. The list, created after the 9/11 attacks, has been criticised by US civil rights groups who say it is too broad and those on it have no chance to challenge their inclusion.

The plane had to turn back to Mexico after 90 minutes. Gutiérrez, 48, was forced to leave the flight, which then resumed its journey to Spain. Almost all flights from Mexico to Europe cross US air space.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agency and other USA government agencies won’t say why Gutiérrez Aguilar, an internationally respected author and analyst of social movements, was stopped mid-flight and barred from crossing into US airspace.

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iflizwerequeen comments

Once again, if you want the news that matters to  your life, don’t look for it in USA mainstream media because you are not likely to find it there.  The only way that stories like the one above do eventually make it to mainstream USA media is if the story garners extensive international attention.  Then and only then will we see it in mainstream USA media.

Why is this story important?  It provides an insight into the extent of the extreme right-wing censorship that is already in effect in the USA. Once upon a time government agencies like the TSA had to explain themselves to the public. This is no longer true. They can even molest US citizens with impunity.