  A natural interpretation of the correlation between nearby Active Galactic
Nuclei (AGN) and the highest-energy cosmic rays observed recently by the Pierre
Auger Collaboration is that the sources of the cosmic rays are either AGN or
other objects with a similar spatial distribution (the ``AGN hypothesis''). We
question this interpretation. We calculate the expected distribution of the
arrival directions of cosmic rays under the AGN hypothesis and argue that it is
not supported by the data, one of manifestations of the discrepancy being the
deficit of events from the direction of the Virgo supercluster. We briefly
discuss possible alternative explanations including the origin of a significant
part of the observed events from Cen A.
