by Dollars and Sense
Violence has escalated in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Several protesters were killed last Friday, including Brad Will, an independent journalist affiliated with New York Indymedia. Mexican president Vincente Fox has sent federal police forces into Oaxaca.
The following report is from the Inter Press Service News Agency:
The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), which is demanding the removal of Governor Ruiz, who they accuse of corruption and authoritarianism, declared itself on maximum alert and called on its members to put up resistance to any violent actions of which they are the target.
APPO, made up of 350 Oaxaca social organisations, emerged in June after Ruiz sent police to break up a protest by teachers who went on strike in May for better salaries.
On Friday, heavily armed men in civilian dress, who witnesses identified as police officers and municipal authorities, reportedly opened fire on members of APPO, who were defending barricades they have set up to block streets in the city centre.
The protesters, whose blockades have frequently been the targets of drive-by shootings, have armed themselves with sticks and Molotov cocktails for protection.
The men who were fatally shot Friday included a teacher, a resident of a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Oaxaca, and a freelance U.S. journalist and cameraman. A fourth victim is still unidentified.
The U.S. reporter, Bradley Will, 36, was working for Indymedia, an Internet-based alternative news agency. He was killed by two shots to the abdomen while attempting to film interviews for a documentary he was preparing.
Osvaldo RamÃrez, a photographer with the Mexican daily Milenio, was among the injured.
The U.S. embassy in Mexico lamented Will's death, which, according to Ambassador Antonio Garza, "underscores the critical need for a return to lawfulness and order in Oaxaca."
The embassy also said the men who shot at the protesters may have been local police.
APPO blames the 14 deaths on paramilitary groups made up of police officers and hired killers allegedly contracted by Ruiz.
For the full IPS report, click
here. For a report from the Guardian, click
here. (Thanks to Portside for these links.)
David Bacon's article in the September/October issue of
Dollars & Sense,
Oaxaca's Dangerous Teachers, gives background information on the current crisis, and the key role of cross-border organizing in the Oaxacans' resistance to the governor's corrupt and repressive regime.
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10/30/2006 12:03:00 PM 
