[News] Mexican Federal Police Invade...But the APPO Still Controls The Heart Of Oaxaca

[Anti-Imperialist News]

TWO ARTICLES FOLLOW

Mexican Federal Police Invade...But the APPO Still Controls The Heart Of Oaxaca
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/10/30/1233/6752

By 
<http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/10/30/1233//user/uid:140>Gregory 
Berger,
Posted on Mon Oct 30th, 2006 at 01:23:03 AM EST
After a full day's assault, the thousands of 
Mexican Federal Police that invaded Oaxaca City 
today have now occupied the town square and other 
key parts of the city. But there are many this 
morning that maintain that the fight is far from over.

At first glance, the Federal Government delivered 
a victory to the State Government of Oaxaca in 
its attempt to return control of the State 
Capital to Governor Ulises Ruiz. Armored tanks 
slammed through the APPO's barricades and brushed 
aside the women and children on the streets who 
had lined up to ask them not to enter their city. 
At least 50 people have been arrested, but the 
real number is feared to be much higher. Illegal 
search and seizures are occurring throughout the 
city, where Federal police and intelligence 
agents are hunting for the leadership of the 
Peoples' Popular Assembly of Oaxaca. (APPO) And, 
in outrageous coincidence evoking memories of 
Alexis Benhumea's murder in the town of San 
Salvador Atenco in May, at least one person is 
confirmed dead, a 15 year old boy slammed by a 
tear canister launched by the Federal Preventative Police (PFP).

But most observers on the ground told this 
correspondent last night that the fight is far 
from over; Radio Universidad, the voice of the 
APPO, is back on the air. Three marches are 
planned for today in the city of Oaxaca. The APPO 
remains present on every city block in every 
corner of the city. And despite the government's 
absurd claim that teachers will be back in 
classrooms today, members of section 22 of the 
teachers union made it clear that despite 
previous announcements, teachers will remain on 
strike. In fact, teachers from the democratic 
wing of the teachers’ movements in several 
states, including Guerrero, Michoacán, Tlaxcala, 
Morelos, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, Mexico City, and 
beyond, have vowed to walk out of classes as 
well. A mega march is planned in Mexico City to 
insist on the immediate withdrawal of the PFP.

"This is not a defeat." Insisted a host of Radio 
Universidad. "There are still more of us. They 
can't win unless they are prepared to put 
thousands upon thousands of us in jail, or turn 
the schools into jails. Or perhaps even turn the 
stadiums into jails, like Pinochet did."

Radio Universidad is currently on air giving 
instructions to citizens on how to engage in continued resistance.

Prior to yesterday's invasion, many people 
claimed that a Federal incursion into Oaxaca 
would not only fail to squash the movement, but 
would in fact strengthen it. Today, there are 
many signs that their predictions may well come 
true. Allies of the APPO took control of the 
government radio station yesterday in Guelatao, 
the small town in the mountains two hours from 
Oaxaca where Benito Juarez was born. From the 
word on the street, one suspects that today we 
will learn of many such small victories.



http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2259.html

Chronicle of the Battle of Oaxaca: Stage Three, Day One




The Majority of People on the Street Waiting to 
Confront the Police were Common Citizens Ready to Put Their Lives on the Line





By James Daria
The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Oaxaca

October 30, 2006

With the death of at least three people 
(including a foreign journalist) on Friday, 
Mexican president Vicente Fox must have found his 
excuse to bring in federal police to repress the 
civil unrest that has made the state of Oaxaca 
practically ungovernable and has spurred further 
unrest throughout the republic. By Saturday, 
elements of the Federal Preventive Police landed 
at the Oaxaca airport and word spread about their 
arrival by ground just north of the city. 
According to word on the street the federal 
forces were supposed to have entered the city 
under the cover of darkness Saturday night. 
Although the city was abandoned and no new 
barricades were erected, the arrival of the 
police did not happen. Sunday morning came and 
the city awoke to a buzz of activity as troop 
movement was detected at different points of the 
city and helicopters could be seen flying 
overhead. The battle of Oaxaca was about to begin 
and who would control the city at the end of the 
day would be decided at various strategic barricades.

The majority of the federal forces were stationed 
at the base of the PFP near the entrance to the 
highway to Mexico City just past the village of 
Etla. The police, dressed in full riot gear and 
equipped with various “tanks” (actually armored 
vehicles with water cannons and video cameras), 
stationed themselves just on the edge of this 
highway. What laid between them and the center of 
Oaxaca City were no less than five major 
barricades made up of buses and semi trailers and 
the fury of thousands of common Oaxacan citizens. 
There were also reports of troop movements in the south of the city.

Heading towards the front line in the morning, an 
amazing amount of citizens filled the highway 
between downtown Oaxaca and the federal police 
stationed to the north east of the city. The 
majority of people were local residents who left 
their homes to man the barricades located nearby. 
Others brought water or food to the protesters. 
Although everyone knew the violence of the state 
was encroaching, the level of generosity and 
mutual aid expressed by these people was 
tremendous. While the presence of teachers and 
others affiliated directly with the APPO was 
clearly evident, the majority of people on the 
street waiting to confront the police were common 
citizens who were ready to put their lives on the 
lines to prevent the federal forces from reaching the city.

Talking to a woman who was sitting at the 
monument to Benito Juarez on the road to Etla, 
she explained that the current social movement 
rocking the foundations of the state government’s 
authoritarianism and brutality is actually in its 
third and most important stage. The first stage, 
according to her, was the vanguard of the 
teachers union. Although the union has always 
fought for its own self-interest the union taught 
the people how to fight for their rights, 
especially after June 16. The second phase was 
the consolidation of various social organizations 
in the Popular Assembly of the Oaxaca People. 
These disparate groups followed the example of 
the union in terms of organization and 
combativeness. The third and current stage in 
which the movement finds itself is the radical 
democratization of the struggle with the massive 
participation of common, until now unorganized 
people. In light of the sell out of the 
leadership of the teachers union and the failure 
of the APPO to achieve certain objectives, the 
people have found the strength within themselves 
to take active participation and leadership in 
the greatly expanding movement. Evidence of the 
truth of her statements was the large number of 
women and children among the protestors. Many 
people throughout the day expressed their wish 
that the outside world realize that the majority 
of the protesters were common folk who were 
simply tired of poverty and repression and not 
armed thugs portrayed in the mass media.

Sitting underneath a giant statue of the Oaxacan 
Indian who became president of the nation and 
fought for independence and reform, she explained 
that Oaxaca has always been on the forefront of 
revolutionary change in Mexico. And the movement 
in Oaxaca is not isolated to this state. 
According to her, Oaxacans are setting an example 
for all Mexicans to rise up and fight against the 
authoritarianism of bad governments. Oaxaca is 
but the tip of the iceberg of the coming change at a national level.

Arriving at the front lines, the people had 
amassed in front of the PFP with signs 
demonstrating their rejection of the use of force 
to solve the Oaxacan conflict. Everyone insisted 
that the peaceful resolution of the conflict was 
possible with the ousting of the governor Ulises 
Ruiz and the implementation of radical reforms in 
this poor, southern state. “We want peace!
The 
uniformed are also exploited!...Oaxaca isn’t 
Atenco!
were some of the chants that vibrated 
throughout the phalanx of peaceful protestors. In 
a symbolic act representing the blood that has 
been shed in order to keep Ulises Ruiz in power, 
three people took blood from their arms and with 
it wrote slogans against the PFP. “If Abascal 
wants Oaxacan blood, have him come here to take 
mine! Enough blood has been shed!” cried one of the bleeding protestors.

Around three o’clock and shortly after the bloody 
demonstration the troops began to move forward. 
Women flung themselves against the shields of the 
riot squads and the armored cars trying to push 
them back. Other protesters laid on the ground 
trying to block their path. The protesters 
peacefully tried to stop the police from moving 
forward but the police pushed on using water 
cannons to stun and disorient the protestors. The 
PFP slowly moved forward advancing towards the 
capital as the protesters tried in vain to stop 
their progression. At this point the attitude of 
the protestors was complete non-violence. When 
one ski-masked youth threw rocks at the police, 
other demonstrators grabbed him and took off the 
mask telling him that rock throwing only provokes 
a confrontation leading to an excuse for violence on the part of the state.

Word spread that the PFP was entering the city 
from the south clearing away the barricades in 
that part of the city. Back up north, while the 
protestors headed to defend the next barricade 
down the highway, the police deviated from the 
highway and entered the dirt roads near the banks 
of the river Atoyac that lines the highway 
leading to downtown. In this way the majority of 
the major barricades were averted. Confrontation 
eventually happened in Viguera near the Oaxacan 
Technological Institute where the police launched 
large amounts of tear gas. Although awaiting 
confirmation, according to the security force of 
the APPO, a teenager was killed by the impact of 
a tear gas canister. Many others were supposedly detained.

While a march in support of the APPO was arriving 
in downtown, Oaxaca was slowing being occupied by 
the federal police. Trying not to provoke 
confrontations the police slowly made their way 
to the southern corners of the Zocalo and amassed 
there waiting for nightfall. The city of Oaxaca 
was covered in thick black smoke from burning busses and car tires.

With the cover of darkness, the PFP finally 
occupied the Zocalo and began to tear down the 
APPO’s encampment. The electricity was cut off in 
the University City and surrounding neighborhoods 
as the police tried to silence the voice of the 
people, Radio Universidad. The protesters 
reinforcing the barricades around the university 
quickly hooked up a generator and restored 
transmission although the surrounding 
neighborhoods remained in darkness. Reports 
broadcast on the radio and word of mouth from 
relatives and neighbors indicate that the PFP is 
searching houses supposedly looking for evidence 
of participation in the movement. Neighbors are 
burning anything they have that could be linked 
to the APPO in fear of government repression.

Entering the longest hours of the night there are 
reports of barricades being rebuilt along the 
highway to Mexico City once again blocking off 
traffic and impeding the further arrival of 
federal troops. Explosions are being heard in 
different parts of the city and three helicopters 
are circling overhead. It is assumed that Radio 
Universidad will be the next target.

Although the city of Oaxaca has been occupied by 
federal troops the problem is far from resolved. 
One protestor commented that the following day 
when the police have set up camp in the Zocalo, 
the people will then surround them and force them 
out. Although the physical perimeter has been 
broken the spirit of resistance and the rage of 
the people have not been extinguished. The use of 
force to quell the social unrest here in Oaxaca 
will not solve the underlying problems and until 
the problems are solved or enough people have 
died, the conflict will continue. Tomorrow will 
be yet another day fighting for control of the 
city of Oaxaca. It is thought that the next 
strategy of the federal forces will be to enter 
into the surrounding neighborhoods to clean out 
the barricades and restore order.


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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