Protesters reject plan to let police back in Oaxaca, dimming hopes for end to standoff
OAXACA, Mexico
Oct 11
Striking teachers refused to consider a proposal to allow police to re-enter embattled Oaxaca city and gunfire erupted when leftist protesters tried to seize a government building, dimming hopes for a quick resolution to the five-month-long standoff.
The teachers said Wednesday that they won't even consider the plan to let local police resume patrols under federal command in this southern colonial city until Mexico's Senate rules on their main demand: that Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz resign.
"The departure of Ulises Ruiz is not negotiable," the teachers' union said in a press statement. "Once the Senate reaches a decision on the removal of local officials, a consultation will be held on the proposal by the Interior Department."
That hard-line stance mirrored a rising radicalism on Wednesday among strikers and their leftist supporters, who blocked highways and tried to seize or block more state government offices ahead of a visit by a Senate fact-finding commission aimed at assessing the conflict.
Hopes of a quick solution to the conflict that arose after strikers agreed to consider the police proposal were dashed, and some said the upsurge in radicalism was fed by an impending Senate inspection visit aimed at weighing protesters' demand for the governor's resignation.
Wednesday's gunfire occurred when a roving band of strike enforcers known as the "mobile brigade" wearing hoods and carrying clubs and rocks tried to take over the offices of a public safety agency in Oaxaca. They had had seized the same building weeks ago, beating one of the officials they found inside.
This time, however, they were greeted by gunfire from police inside the building. Ministerial Police Director Manuel Moreno Rivas said police fired into the air, and that there were no injuries. Protesters said two of their colleagues were grazed by bullets.
A large crowd gathered outside the building with the police apparently still inside.
Earlier in the day, strikers broadcast appeals over a radio station they seized months ago, calling on protesters to step up disruptive activities to prove to the visiting senators that the rule of law had broken down in Oaxaca.
In apparent response to those appeals, protesters blocked most of the highways leading in and out of Oaxaca, a tactic they hadn't used in weeks.
"This appears orchestrated," said Sen. Alejandro Gonzalez of the conservative National Action Party, adding that the strikers apparently "wanted to create a different appearance" prior to the visit.
The Senate commission is expected to arrive in Oaxaca as early as Thursday to determine whether the state government has effectively ceases to function, a situation that could allow the Senate to remove Ruiz from office.
"Even though the conditions aren't right, we still have to go there," said Sen. Tomas Torres, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. "The crucial thing is to see if there is still government officials attending the citizens and public."
Protesters accuse Ruiz of rigging the 2004 election to win office and of using armed gangs against his opponents. The protesters have set up blockades and burned buses, running police and government officials out of the picturesque, arch-ringed main plaza and much of downtown.
If the senators judge that all three branches of the Oaxaca state government — the executive, legislative and judicial branches — have ceased to function, a Senate committee can send a bill calling for the removal of the governor.
The Oaxaca state congress, dominated by the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI vehemently denies this has happened. Ruiz, who is also a PRI member, has called for the army to act against the protesters, a request that has so far been denied.
Oct 11
Striking teachers refused to consider a proposal to allow police to re-enter embattled Oaxaca city and gunfire erupted when leftist protesters tried to seize a government building, dimming hopes for a quick resolution to the five-month-long standoff.
The teachers said Wednesday that they won't even consider the plan to let local police resume patrols under federal command in this southern colonial city until Mexico's Senate rules on their main demand: that Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz resign.
"The departure of Ulises Ruiz is not negotiable," the teachers' union said in a press statement. "Once the Senate reaches a decision on the removal of local officials, a consultation will be held on the proposal by the Interior Department."
That hard-line stance mirrored a rising radicalism on Wednesday among strikers and their leftist supporters, who blocked highways and tried to seize or block more state government offices ahead of a visit by a Senate fact-finding commission aimed at assessing the conflict.
Hopes of a quick solution to the conflict that arose after strikers agreed to consider the police proposal were dashed, and some said the upsurge in radicalism was fed by an impending Senate inspection visit aimed at weighing protesters' demand for the governor's resignation.
Wednesday's gunfire occurred when a roving band of strike enforcers known as the "mobile brigade" wearing hoods and carrying clubs and rocks tried to take over the offices of a public safety agency in Oaxaca. They had had seized the same building weeks ago, beating one of the officials they found inside.
This time, however, they were greeted by gunfire from police inside the building. Ministerial Police Director Manuel Moreno Rivas said police fired into the air, and that there were no injuries. Protesters said two of their colleagues were grazed by bullets.
A large crowd gathered outside the building with the police apparently still inside.
Earlier in the day, strikers broadcast appeals over a radio station they seized months ago, calling on protesters to step up disruptive activities to prove to the visiting senators that the rule of law had broken down in Oaxaca.
In apparent response to those appeals, protesters blocked most of the highways leading in and out of Oaxaca, a tactic they hadn't used in weeks.
"This appears orchestrated," said Sen. Alejandro Gonzalez of the conservative National Action Party, adding that the strikers apparently "wanted to create a different appearance" prior to the visit.
The Senate commission is expected to arrive in Oaxaca as early as Thursday to determine whether the state government has effectively ceases to function, a situation that could allow the Senate to remove Ruiz from office.
"Even though the conditions aren't right, we still have to go there," said Sen. Tomas Torres, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. "The crucial thing is to see if there is still government officials attending the citizens and public."
Protesters accuse Ruiz of rigging the 2004 election to win office and of using armed gangs against his opponents. The protesters have set up blockades and burned buses, running police and government officials out of the picturesque, arch-ringed main plaza and much of downtown.
If the senators judge that all three branches of the Oaxaca state government — the executive, legislative and judicial branches — have ceased to function, a Senate committee can send a bill calling for the removal of the governor.
The Oaxaca state congress, dominated by the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI vehemently denies this has happened. Ruiz, who is also a PRI member, has called for the army to act against the protesters, a request that has so far been denied.
posted by Alice at
Friday, October 13, 2006
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