lundi, novembre 06, 2006

Actualité - Oaxaca: Peaceful Solution or Civil War?

Havana, Nov 6 (Prensa Latina) - The embattled APPO of Oaxaca, Mexico, held a mega march this weekend to demand immediate removal of Gov. Ulises Ruiz and withdrawal of the federal police (PFP), sent last week by President Vicente Fox to restore order.

Police reportedly opened fire Sunday on the normally sacrosanct autonomous university where the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) has its radio transmitter, wounding one student.

The disorder stems from the June protest strike by teachers prompting formation of the APPO in their support, organizing marches, sit-ins and camp-ins in Oaxaca and the capital, demanding removal of the governor.

The response was more violent repression, with 15 teachers and activists murdered in the past five months, including Brad Will, a NYC Indymedia photo journalist shot twice while filming the protest.

The Mexican Senate recognized that Oaxaca had become "ungovernable", but refused to remove Ruiz, a member of PRI party (Revolucion Instituional) allied with the governing PAN (Accion Nacional).

However, following more violence when the federal police tried unsuccessfully to evict the protestors rather than the paramilitary, the Senate asked Ruiz to voluntarily resign, which he refused to do.

Positions are hardening on both sides, with support for the APPO flooding in from many Mexican and international progressive groups and President Fox vowing to bring order to Oaxaca before he hands over power Dec. 1 to President-elect Felipe Calderon, himself a focal point of controversy in continuing protests of fraud in his election.

While the police entrench in the city with barbed wire and the population rebuilds their barricades protecting the university and call for cameras to film police harassment, PRD (Revolucion Democratica) party – part of the coalition supporting Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as legitimate president-elect – will again call for a Senate vote to remove the Oaxaca executive and judicial powers.

(Prensa Latina News Agency)

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