Rochelle in Oaxaca
Hello all…
So things in Oaxaca are intensifying and fast.
Last week there was a 2000+ womens’ march of the Popular Assembly of the
State of Oaxaca (APPO). A quick recap, this is the organization that
formed after the June 14th police repression of the striking teachers
union SNTE Section 22. APPO is made up of the teachers as well as a huge
variety of social organizations who support the teachers. Since APPO’s
formation the main goal has been to force the resignation of the
right-wing corrupt governor of Oaxaca State, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. The main
method being used to acheive this is to use nonviolent tactics to stop the
state government from functioning. The state Government House, the State
Congress and the Oaxaca Superior Tribunal of Justice, the Department of
Finances, the General Attorney’s office, the penal tribunals, and other
facilities have all been blockaded.
So back to the women, after marching for five miles they nonviolently took
over the state tv station and have controlled it ever since. It took them
a few hours to get it up and running but since then they have been playing
the footage of the June 14th repression, the march of 400,000 teachers and
growing number of supporters 2 weeks later, and other indymedia style
documentaries of class struggles going on throughout Mexico. They even
played a documentay on the oppression faced by the Palestinians. The
media here is controlled by the wealthy and those in power, like in the
states, so these things had never made it on to television. The televison
station also has two affilited radio stations which the women now control
as well.
The movement has truly been growing, the largest mass movement I have ever
witnessed. It is spreading throughout the whole state of Oaxaca. 40
municipalities and towns around the state have made changes to those in
power, 20 municipal town halls are currently occupied. Nineteen
municipalities have joined APPO and have sent people here to Oaxaca city
to further the struggle. APPO has set up road blockades through out the
state and have taken over 6o public buses and 18 government cars.
Last week it was clear that APPO was acheiving its goals. The movement
was growing and its voice was loud and clear through the women on the
television and radio stations and the university radio station. Then on
the night of August 6th, although denied by President Vicente Fox, 300
officers of the Federal Preventive Police arrived in the city. On the
8th, 30 police men dressed in civilian clothing tried to disperse one of
the blockades in front of an occupied public building with tear gas and
gunfire. One woman was shot in the leg. Then the repression began to
show up all over the city in a series of events which I will list below to
keep it short…
August 7th
Two men start a bus on fire outside the university radio station as a
distraction, they then proceed to throw acid on the transmitter. Radio
Universidad is shutdown.
A NGO leader is disappeared.
A university professor is shot dead in his car.
August 8th
A leading indigenous rights advocate and active in APPO, who is wheelchair
bound from past police torture, is picked up by masked men in an unmarked
car and disappeared with two men who were with him.
Two men enter the state newspaper, Noticias, which has been sympathetic to
the struggle and shoot into the air.
August 10th
The government of Oaxaca announced arrest warrants for 50 leaders of APPO,
including many NGO leaders and leaders within the teachers union Section
22. According to the Secretary of Public Security, this is to “guarantee
the safety” of the state.
Also yesterday, a march was called by APPO against this repression and for
the release of those who have been disappeared. At least 20,000 people
marched through the streets. From the sidelines of the march shots were
fired killing one man, the husband of a teacher. The house that the shots
came from was rented by the police and a federal police badge was found
inside. Today APPO held a huge procession for the man who was killed
during the march into the center square, thousands attended the funeral
and chants that the struggle will continue were repeated for hours.
I believe the movement in Oaxaca has become a strong and diverse class
struggle against the corrupted officials and business-people who have been
in power in Oaxaca for decades. The state of Oaxaca is 70 percent
indigenous and has a long history of resistance and struggle. Those in
power have begun a dirty war against the movement and I fear for these
brave people who continue to take a strong stand against extreme injustice
and corruption even as they see their fellow compañer@s fall.
The photos I took at yesterday’s march can be seen at
http://www.flickr.com/photos
And I encourage any of you that are able to make a call or write to
Vicente Fox and others to demand an end to this repression and respect for
human rights in the state of Oaxaca. Contact info to follow…
with love,
Rochelle
Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente Constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Teléfono: (55) 52777455
Fax: (55) 52772376
radio@presidencia.gob.mx
presidencia@gob.mx
vicentefox@presidencia.gob.mx
Carlos M. Abascal Carranza
Secretario de Gobernación, México, D.F.
Fax: (00 52) 5 55 546 5350,
(00 52) 5 55 546 7388
segob@rtn.net.mx
Jesús Enrique Jackson Ramírez
Presidente de la Mesa Directiva
del Senado de la República
Teléfono 53.45.30.00 Ext: 3165, 3274
Fax 53.45.30.00 Ext3164
ejackson@senado.gob.mx
technorati tags:Oaxaca
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