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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:37:01 -0500 (CDT)
From: Global Exchange - Mexico News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: En;Tension Remains High in Oaxaca
Dear Readers,
Please find below an article from John Gibler.
First this brief update:
The situation in Oaxaca remains extremely tense:
At 9 pm on October 18, gunmen shot and killed Panfilo Hernandez, a
preschool teacher, as he stepped out of a meeting with other teachers and
members of the APPO in the Jardi'n neighborhood of Oaxaca City.
Hernandez died shortly after arriving at the hospital; he received three
45 caliber bullets in the abdomen. Hernandez was the ninth person to be
assassinated during the conflict in Oaxaca. Eight members of the APPO
have been killed by gunmen and death squads. One teacher who opposed the
strike was hacked to death in the street. His organization blamed the
APPO, but the APPO denounced the killing, blaming the Governor Ulises Ruiz
and the death squads for trying to create the pretext for a federal
military intervention in Oaxaca.
Article
By John Gibler/Special to The Herald Mexico
El Universal
October 19, 2006
At noon on Wednesday, about 80 men and women belonging to the Oaxaca
People's Assembly (APPO) huddled in Oaxaca City's Zo'calo. Armed with
sticks, homemade rocket launchers, slingshots, and iron rods, they
listened intently to one of the group's provisional leaders, who urged
them to stay calm and "resist provocation."
The activists were planning their next "mobile brigade."
Since late July when the APPO stepped up its civil disobedience campaign
against Gov. Ulises Ruiz, protesters have organized these brigades to
travel quickly throughout Oaxaca City in commandeered buses, symbolically
closing government offices and covering city walls with political
graffiti.
These brigades have sought to put pressure on the Senate to vote that the
state government has lost control in Oaxaca - a vote that would lead to
Ruiz's replacement.
During one such excursion last week, a day before a Senate sub-committee
visited Oaxaca City on a fact-finding mission for the vote, gunmen opened
fire on the protesters, wounding four people.
In response, APPO leadership announced they would "close state offices
and suspend public works projects."
This would require more "mobile brigades."
ADDING TO THE FLEET
On Wednesday, the activists commandeered three buses in less than two
minutes. The drivers and passengers put up no resistance, with the
passengers getting off, resigned, to wait for another bus.
The drivers stayed on, but it was made clear they would have to follow
APPO orders.
For nearly four hours the brigades drove through the upscale Reforma
neighborhood, targeting government offices and construction projects
authorized by Ruiz. When they arrived at a targeted building, the
protesters ordered the drivers to park the buses diagonally across the
street, blocking traffic.
Demonstrators then forced state employees to evacuate the buildings
before symbolically shutting them down and jamming the locks with
splinters and spray paint. The secretariats of government, indigenous
affairs, transportation and infrastructure all received this treatment.
At the Secretariat of Indigenous Affairs, one APPO leader shouted: "Our
movement is peaceful. One of the agreements of the APPO assembly is not
to hurt anyone," as the employees filed out.
"What is he talking about? This is peaceful?" asked one state employee
who declined to give his name. "Look how they show up with pipes and
sticks. This is not peaceful, this is intimidation."
Gerardo Va'zquez, an engineer and owner of Los Cocos Construction, came
out of his building, which he shares with the Oaxaca State Archives, and
asked the brigade not to paint on his section of the wall or sidewalk.
"I've got nothing to do with the government," Va'zquez said. "Go paint
the houses of state officials, they have robbed everybody. Go paint
there, where all our tax money has gone."
Va'zquez said he has spent over US$4,000 cleaning up graffiti and fixing
broken windows on his properties and that his business, even after laying
off over 100 workers, is on the edge of collapse.
"I am not in favor of one side or the other," he said. "Some of the
things (the APPO) do, they are correct. But sadly, the government does
not pay the slightest attention."
NEED TO CALM DOWN
"They need to calm down," said a 69-year-old local resident watching as
protesters climbed up on a ledge of a compound across the street to see
if there were any workers inside. She declined to give her name.
"We support them," she said, "but if office doors are closed, they really
don't need to go climbing up on walls. They should really calm down."
APPO protesters also approached construction workers at several public
works projects telling them the APPO was suspending their work for the
indefinite future.
Workers at the Fountain of the Seven Regions renovation project agreed to
suspend work, hurrying to pack up their tools as protesters spray-painted
the newly laid tiles of the fountain's base with slogans like: "Tourists
do not want modernity, they want history, tradition, and culture."
"These are unnecessary public works that were never approved by the
people," one protester told the workers. "They are building these to
justify the money they have spent." He accused Gov. Ruiz of using
construction boondoggles to cover-up money laundered for the presidential
campaign of Roberto Madrazo.
By 3:30 p.m. the APPO organizers directed the buses back toward the Zo'calo,
getting off and releasing the drivers exactly where they had stepped in front
of their buses three hours before.
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Mexico Update CONTRIBUTE TO
GLOBAL EXCHANGE (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp)
Dear Readers,
Please find below an article from John Gibler.
First this brief update:
The situation in Oaxaca remains extremely tense:
At 9 pm on October 18, gunmen shot and killed Panfilo Hernandez, a preschool
teacher, as he stepped out of a meeting with other teachers and members of the
APPO in the Jardi'n neighborhood of Oaxaca City.
Hernandez died shortly after arriving at the hospital; he received three .45
caliber bullets in the abdomen. Hernandez was the ninth person to be
assassinated during the conflict in Oaxaca. Eight members of the APPO have been
killed by gunmen and death squads. One teacher who opposed the strike was
hacked to death in the street. His organization blamed the APPO, but the APPO
denounced the killing, blaming the Governor Ulises Ruiz and the death squads
for trying to create the pretext for a federal military intervention in Oaxaca.
Article
By John Gibler/Special to The Herald Mexico
El Universal
October 19, 2006
At noon on Wednesday, about 80 men and women belonging to the Oaxaca People's
Assembly (APPO) huddled in Oaxaca City's Zo'calo. Armed with sticks, homemade
rocket launchers, slingshots, and iron rods, they listened intently to one of
the group's provisional leaders, who urged them to stay calm and "resist
provocation."
The activists were planning their next "mobile brigade."
Since late July when the APPO stepped up its civil disobedience campaign
against Gov. Ulises Ruiz, protesters have organized these brigades to travel
quickly throughout Oaxaca City in commandeered buses, symbolically closing
government offices and covering city walls with political graffiti.
These brigades have sought to put pressure on the Senate to vote that the state
government has lost control in Oaxaca - a vote that would lead to Ruiz's
replacement.
During one such excursion last week, a day before a Senate sub-committee
visited Oaxaca City on a fact-finding mission for the vote, gunmen opened fire
on the protesters, wounding four people.
In response, APPO leadership announced they would "close state offices and
suspend public works projects."
This would require more "mobile brigades."
ADDING TO THE FLEET
On Wednesday, the activists commandeered three buses in less than two minutes.
The drivers and passengers put up no resistance, with the passengers getting
off, resigned, to wait for another bus.
The drivers stayed on, but it was made clear they would have to follow APPO
orders.
For nearly four hours the brigades drove through the upscale Reforma
neighborhood, targeting government offices and construction projects authorized
by Ruiz. When they arrived at a targeted building, the protesters ordered the
drivers to park the buses diagonally across the street, blocking traffic.
Demonstrators then forced state employees to evacuate the buildings before
symbolically shutting them down and jamming the locks with splinters and spray
paint. The secretariats of government, indigenous affairs, transportation and
infrastructure all received this treatment.
At the Secretariat of Indigenous Affairs, one APPO leader shouted: "Our
movement is peaceful. One of the agreements of the APPO assembly is not to hurt
anyone," as the employees filed out.
"What is he talking about? This is peaceful?" asked one state employee who
declined to give his name. "Look how they show up with pipes and sticks. This
is not peaceful, this is intimidation."
Gerardo Va'zquez, an engineer and owner of Los Cocos Construction, came out of
his building, which he shares with the Oaxaca State Archives, and asked the
brigade not to paint on his section of the wall or sidewalk.
"I've got nothing to do with the government," Va'zquez said. "Go paint the
houses of state officials, they have robbed everybody. Go paint there, where
all our tax money has gone."
Va'zquez said he has spent over US$4,000 cleaning up graffiti and fixing broken
windows on his properties and that his business, even after laying off over 100
workers, is on the edge of collapse.
"I am not in favor of one side or the other," he said. "Some of the things (the
APPO) do, they are correct. But sadly, the government does not pay the
slightest attention."
NEED TO CALM DOWN
"They need to calm down," said a 69-year-old local resident watching as
protesters climbed up on a ledge of a compound across the street to see if
there were any workers inside. She declined to give her name.
"We support them," she said, "but if office doors are closed, they really don't
need to go climbing up on walls. They should really calm down."
APPO protesters also approached construction workers at several public works
projects telling them the APPO was suspending their work for the indefinite
future.
Workers at the Fountain of the Seven Regions renovation project agreed to
suspend work, hurrying to pack up their tools as protesters spray-painted the
newly laid tiles of the fountain's base with slogans like: "Tourists do not
want modernity, they want history, tradition, and culture."
"These are unnecessary public works that were never approved by the people,"
one protester told the workers. "They are building these to justify the money
they have spent." He accused Gov. Ruiz of using construction boondoggles to
cover-up money laundered for the presidential campaign of Roberto Madrazo.
By 3:30 p.m. the APPO organizers directed the buses back toward the Zo'calo,
getting off and releasing the drivers exactly where they had stepped in front
of their buses three hours before.
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