Assassination hoaxes
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/06/04/mexico.governor.reut/index.html
Official: Attempt on Mexico governor's life a hoax
Friday, June 4, 2004 Posted: 5:38 PM EDT (2138 GMT)
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) -- A reported assassination attempt in March that left a Mexican state governor in the hospital was a hoax, and the governor is accused of hiding the facts, the attorney general's office said on Friday.
Records show that a policeman died from bullet wounds as a result of the incident and most of the bullets came from the gun of the governor's bodyguard, the prosecutor's office said.
Oaxaca Gov. Jose Murat, who said he came under fire on March 18 as he drove to a breakfast meeting in the state capital, may have covered up the facts, deputy prosecutor Gilberto Higuera said.
"There is no information to indicate that this vehicle was the object of an attack, as was originally said," Higuera told a news conference.
At the time, a state government spokesman said unidentified gunmen opened fire on Murat's car. A policeman died in hospital of bullet injuries sustained during the incident and the governor was briefly hospitalized with minor injuries.
The attorney general's office said an initial inquiry by the local prosecutor in Oaxaca was plagued with irregularities and contradictions.
Reports of an assassination attempt on Murat, a member of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, sent jitters through financial markets and President Vicente Fox called it an attack on Mexican democracy.
Higuera said that three holes in the windshield of Murat's car had been made by bullets fired from inside the car, apparently from the gun of Murat's head bodyguard.
"We are not asking for Murat's immunity from prosecution to be lifted at the moment. We are deepening our investigation," he said. "We presume, of course, an agreement (by the governor) to hide the truth and he is the object of the investigation."
Higuera said more than 30 shell casings had been found lying around the governor's car from bullets that had also been shot from his head bodyguard's gun. He said he was seeking to arrest the bodyguards for giving false information and investigating the governor.
Oaxaca is one of Mexico's poorest states, and political tensions have risen sharply ahead of gubernatorial elections in August which will determine whether or not Murat is re-elected.
Murat said at the time of the alleged attack that he and his family had received at least 15 death threats since he took office in 1998.
Copyright 2004 Reuters. All rights reserved.
Which brought to my mind the alleged attempt made on General Pinochet in Chile in 1986, which was widely rumored (though I'm not sure if ever definitively shown) to be a fiction. Any other examples? -lopaka