Revolutionary situation in Mexico

  • Wanna Join? New users you can now register lightning fast using your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#1
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
45
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#1
I’m going to provide a lot of information regarding the current situation in Mexico, mainly what’s been going on in Oaxaca and various other cities. I will provide recent articles, pictures and video’s. This thread may seem a bit erratic and unorganized at first, but I know there are some members interested in this info so just bare with me comrades. Eventually it will be used for users including myself to post updates as time goes on.

HERE is a quick brackground explaining what has led to the recent events in Oaxaca.

:::
:::

Last week I posted that the Town Center, which was the headquarters for the APPO in Oaxaca fell. That was true however, all is not lost. The commune continues as the protestors pulled back to Oaxaca state's university. On thursday, the police attempted to attack the university, but the protestors forced them into retreat. Here is a collection of photographs taken on the frontline of the battle for Oaxaca. Enjoy.

source


















 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#2
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
45
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#2
Message from the Zapatistas:

OFFICIAL NOTICE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY INDIGENOUS CLANDESTINE COMMITTEE -
MILITARY COMMAND OF ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION.
MEXICO.

30 OF OCTOBER OF 2006.

TO THE TOWN OF MEXICO:
TO THE TOWNS OF THE WORLD:
TO ALL THE OTHER IN MEXICO AND NORTH OF THE RIO GRANDE:
TO ALL THE INTERNATIONAL SIXTH:
COMPANIONS: SISTERS & BROTHERS:

AS IT IS OF PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, YESTERDAY, 29 OF OCTOBER OF 2006, The FEDERAL FORCES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF VICENTE FOX, ATTACKED THE TOWN OF OAXACA AND IT'S WORTHIER REPRESENTATIVE, THE POPULAR ASSEMBLY OF THE TOWNS OF OAXACA, The APPO.

AS OF TODAY, THE FEDERAL POLICE FORCES HAVE ASSASSINATED AT LEAST THREE PEOPLE, AMONG THEM A MINOR OF AGE; LEFT MANY PEOPLE HURT, AMONG THEM SEVERAL OAXAQUEÑA WOMEN; AND MANY WERE ARRESTED AND TRANSFERRED ILLEGALLY TO MILITARY PRISONS. ADDED TO ALL THIS ARE THE DEAD, ARRESSTEES AND MISSING WHO FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE MOBILIZATION THAT DEMANDS THE RESIGNATION OF ULISES RUIZ FROM THE OAXACAN GOVERNMENT.

THE FEDERAL POLICE FORCES ATTACK DOES NOT HAVE MORE OBJECTIVE THAN TO MAINTAIN ULISES RUIZ IN POWER AND TO DESTROY THE POPULAR ORGANIZATION OF THOSE OF FROM BELOW IN OAXACA.

THE OAXACA TOWN RESISTS. NO HONEST PERSON CAN REMAIN IN IMMOVABLE & SILENT WHILE AN ENTIRE TOWN, MAINLY INDIGENOUS, IS ASSASSINATED, BEATEN AND JAILED.

WE, THE ZAPATISTAS, WILL NOT SHUT UP AND WE WILL MOBILIZE IN SUPPORT OF OUT BROTHERLY TOWN AND COMPANION OF OAXACA.

THE SIXTH COMMISSION OF THE EZLN HAS ALREADY CONSULTED ZAPATISTA COMMAND AND THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN DECIDED:

FIRST. - THROUGHOUT THE FIRST OF NOVEMBER OF 2006, THE HIGHWAYS AND ROADS WILL BE CLOSED THAT CROSS THE TERRITORIES WHERE THE EZLN MAINTAINS PRESENCE IN THE SOUTHEAST STATE OF CHIAPAS.

CONSEQUENTLY, WE EXHORT THAT EVERYONE ABSTAIN FROM TRAVELING CHIAPAS HIGHWAYS THAT DAY AND TAKE THE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS FOR IT.

SECOND. - THROUGH THEIR SIXTH COMMISSION, THE EZLN HAS INITIATED CONTACTS AND CONSULTATIONS WITH OTHER POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS, AS WELL AS WITH GROUPS, COLLECTIVES AND PEOPLE OF THE OTHER CAMPAIGN, TO INITIATE DAYS OF SOLIDARITY WITH OAXACA AND TO SUMMON JOINT ACTIONS TO ALL OF MEXICO FROM BELOW AND MAKING NATIONAL HALT DAY ON THE 20 OF NOVEMBER OF 2006.

THIRD. - THE EZLN MAKES A CALL TO THE OTHER CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO AND NORTH OF THE RIO GRANDE, SO THAT THIS FIRST OF NOVEMBER OF 2006 IT IS MOBILIZED, WHERE IS POSSIBLE, CLOSING OF TOTAL, PARTIAL OR INTERMITTENT, REAL OR SYMBOLICALLY, THE STREETS, ROADS, HIGHWAYS, TOLL BOOTHS, STATIONS, AIRPORTS AND ANY MASS MEDIA.

FOURTH. - THE MESSAGE THAT WE THE ZAPATISTAS SENT AND WILL SEND TO THE TOWN OF OAXACA IS ONE: THEY ARE NOT ALONE. ¡ULISES RUIZ OUT OF OAXACA!

IMMEDIATE EXPULSION OF FEDERAL FORCES OCCUPYING OAXAQUEN TERRITORY!

LIBERTY AND FREEDON TO THOSE DETAINED!

CANCELLATION OF ALL THE ORDERS OF APPREHENSION!

PUNISHMENT TO THE ASSASSINS!

JUSTICE! FREEDOM! DEMOCRACY!

From the north of Mexico.
By the Revolutionary Indigenous Clandestine Committee
- Military command of the Army Zapatista of National Liberation.
By the Sixth Commission of the EZLN.

Insurgent Subcommander Marcos. Mexico, October of 2006.
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#3
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
45
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#3
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/mexico_oaxaca_dc

By Noel Randewich 31 minutes ago

OAXACA, Mexico (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters hurling Molotov cocktails forced riot police using tear gas and water cannons to retreat on Thursday as clashes spiraled out of control in Mexico's popular tourist city of Oaxaca.
ADVERTISEMENT

At least eight people were injured in the violence, including a Mexican newspaper photographer who was hit by fireworks launched from the grounds of Oaxaca state's university, a protest center.

Federal police, who had taken over downtown Oaxaca last weekend in a bid to end a long-running conflict that has killed more than a dozen people, were pushed back by hundreds of leftist protesters guarding the entrance to the university.

The activists, who have blockaded the city for five months demanding Gov. Ulises Ruiz step down, threw gasoline bombs at riot police who had been pushing forward through barricades of burned vehicles.

The gray-clad riot police earlier had gained the upper hand as reinforcements arrived in armored trucks and helicopters, spraying protesters with water cannons and firing tear gas canisters.

But they retreated after local residents, angered at the police presence, joined the demonstrators.

As police backed away, the streets in the flashpoint neighborhood filled with thousands of protesters and residents chanting "Ulises has fallen."

The protesters forced local and state police out of the city in June, took over offices, sentenced people accused of theft and charged street corner tolls.

The crisis started with a teachers' strike, but leftist and Indian groups have joined the calls for Ruiz to step down for brutality and corruption.

The conflict in the picturesque state capital is a major headache for outgoing President
Vicente Fox, who has promised to resolve it before President-elect Felipe Calderon takes office on December 1.

Fox sent federal police to the colonial city after gunmen apparently linked to local officials shot and killed three people on Friday, including a U.S. activist and journalist.

Rioting coincided with Mexico's annual Day of the Dead festival of graveyard rituals to mark dead ancestors. Oaxaca normally attracts thousands of tourists during the festivities.

PROTESTERS BEATEN

After the armored vehicles burst through the barricades, police chased protesters on foot, fanning out into side streets where small groups of protesters threw rocks and lit fires.

Thousands of protesters then streamed into the area. Some surrounded an armored car, dragging two officers out and beating them before colleagues stepped in to rescue them.

Dozens of police trapped a group of men and women outside a car dealership, knocking them to the ground with batons and only backing away when a superior called them off, a Reuters witness said.

Blood covered the face and shirt of an 80-year-old man who said police had confused him with protesters.

"I feel impotent, I feel angry, I feel like crying," said a woman wearing a surgical mask, who declined to be named. "We are the people."

Protest leader Flavio Sosa said in a radio interview that the demonstrators would not back down until the federal police left the city and until arrested colleagues were released.

"Nobody knows what is coming next with this fascist government," he said. "This is an occupying army."

Mexico's government earlier said in a statement that police would not enter the university. Rules prevent government security forces from entering autonomous state universities.
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#4
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
45
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#4
This post is from revolutionaryleft.com:

This is a video someone made of the events of November 2nd, when the people of Oaxaca came out to defend the city from the invading PFP (Federal Preventive Police, I think is the rough translation). Same stuff that CdL is describing in his "Communards force police to retreat!" thread, except in video form. I thought it was powerful and long enough to deserve it's own thread. Watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf6H_sxCx3k

For the non-Spanish speakers or those not sure what happened:

Opening text: "Oaxaca, November 2nd of 2006, Federal Preventive Police intends to remove barricades leading to University City" (note: University City = part of Oaxaca City where university campus is located)

First part is PFP (police) arriving and University Radio calling people to come out and defend the barricades leading to the radio station/transmitter from police and people getting ready to go.

Next part is people confronting police line. Woman tells police that they are fighting against the PRI who have never worked a day in their life unlike her. Man asks police to "reflect" and realize that they are in same economic position as the Oaxacans. Cars then overturned and moved as barricades.

Next: doctor is speaking, says that media has been saying that only "delinquents" and unemployed people have been defending the city, says this is untrue and everyone supports it. Says that doctors of Oaxaca stand with the rest of the people against the government.

Next: cop speaking, says he doesnt want to takeover university, doesnt want to detain anyone or hurt anyone.

Next part speaks for itself, people coming out and fighting police line. Little kid is interviewed, says that everyone is coming out to defend the city and fight for justice and the people will never be defeated. More fighting, helicopter circles overhead. Several individuals are injured in fighting, people take him away to help him. Injured man speaks out against government while lying down. People throwing rocks at cops, cops throw rocks back at them. People throwing small explosives.

Next: cops bring in bulldozers to take down barricades/shoot people with water.

Injured man says cop hit him and kicked him but that his friends helped him escape and helped him medically.

Next: People light bus on fire and prevent bulldozer from advancing. More and more cops on the police line are injured and eventually both bulldozers and police line retreat.

Finally: people celebrating, chanting "Ulises ya callo" meaning "Ulises has fallen" referring to the governor of the state whom they are rebelling against.
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#5
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
45
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#5
Oaxaca on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=oaxaca

videos here also:

http://www.friendsofbradwill.org/

including his last video (amerikan journalist shot and killed while covering the situation in Oaxaca. He was wearing an Indymedia t-shirt when he was shot. The townspeople tried to save him, but unfortunatley could not)

:::
:::

HERE is his last video...
“Armed men in the service of Ulises Ruiz attacked one of the barricades installed in the Calicanto colony, near the municipality of Santa Lucia del Camino. During the armed aggression several people were wounded, and Bradley Will died after receiving a shot in the stomach. This edition corresponds to last fragments of video that the collaborator of indymedia made minutes before being killed by hired assassins of the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz.” (translated from Spanish)
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#6
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
45
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#6
Communards force police to retreat!

NOV 3RD

OAXACA, Mexico - Protesters besieging this colonial city forced federal police to retreat from the gates of the state university after six hours of pitched fighting and the rector's call for an end to the government "attack."



The clash Thursday occurred at the entrance to the university, which protesters demanding the ouster of the Oaxaca state governor have used as their headquarters since police drove them from the city's picturesque central plaza on Sunday. Police control in other areas of the city remained spotty.

Reverberations from the ongoing fight in Oaxaca city — seized five months ago by a coalition of striking teachers and leftist protesters — also reached Mexico City, where sympathizers temporarily blocked some downtown streets to demand police withdraw from Oaxaca.

In Oaxaca City, about 200 police wearing body armor and carrying riot shields advanced to the university gates and fought the protesters for more than six hours before retreating. The retreat left protesters claiming victory and pledging to re-establish barricades that had been dismantled in previous days.

Under Mexican law, the university rector must give the police permission to enter. Rector Francisco Martinez, speaking on the university radio station controlled by the protesters, called the operation an "attack" and demanded police withdraw.

Federal police said they simply intended to "restore order and peace" on the streets and did not plan to storm the school.

Previous negotiations between the protesters and the interior department broke down, and on Thursday protest spokesman Florentino Lopez demanded direct talks with President
Vicente Fox.

A free medical clinic near the university reported that more than 20 protesters had been treated for bruises, cuts and injuries related to tear gas. Lopez claimed the number of injured was much higher.

Ten officers received various gas-fire burns and bruises, the federal police said.

Photographer David Jaramillo of the Mexican daily El Universal was hit in the arm by a large bottle rocket loaded with nails, and was hospitalized in stable condition, the statement said. Another two photographers suffered minor injuries after being hit by stones or nails packed in the rockets, which are about an inch in diameter and six inches long.

The university radio station reported that at least six demonstrators had been arrested and demanded their release.

The university is a stronghold of the movement to oust Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz, who is accused of rigging the 2004 election to win office and organizing bands of thugs to attack dissidents. Protesters including trade unionists, leftists and Indian groups have been flocking to Oaxaca since May to press their demands, and took over the center of the state capital for more than five months.

At least nine people have died in the conflict, mostly protesters shot by police or armed gangs. Among the victims was Bradley Roland Will, a 36-year-old activist-journalist from New York, who was shot in the stomach while filming a gunbattle Friday.

The embassies of the U.S., Canada, Britain, France and Germany all have warned their citizens to avoid traveling to the region. The conflict has shattered tourism in the city, which is popular for its colonial architecture and ancient ruins.
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#8
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
45
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#8
Prensa Latina: soldarity with Oaxaca from other parts of Mexico, including a possible teachers' strike in Michoacan.

Mexico City bombings
Today (11.7.06)

MEXICO CITY - Homemade bombs exploded early Monday at the Federal Electoral Tribunal, a bank branch and the headquarters of the former ruling party in the country's capital.

Police deactivated a fourth explosive before it went off at a second bank branch and were inspecting a backpack found outside an outlet of the Mexican restaurant chain Sanborns.

There were no injuries and no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombs, which were widely dispersed across the city. Emergency officials received two telephone calls shortly after midnight warning that bombs were about to be detonated.

The explosions shortly afterward damaged an auditorium at the headquarters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. They also shattered windows and caused minor damage at the bank, electoral court and nearby businesses and residences — rattling nerves in Mexico, which has been besieged by protests since its polarizing July 2 presidential elections.

"We categorically reject these criminal acts aimed at frightening the population, and we're going to work vigorously to clear this up and guarantee security," President
Vicente Fox said.

Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas asked residents not to panic but acknowledged the blasts were "creating a climate of uncertainty."

Mexico City's police department intensified security in the city's public transportation system, as well as at the presidential residence, Los Pinos, several federal government offices and at the U.S. and British Embassies, said a spokesman for the department, who was not authorized to give his name.

The explosions came a day after more than 20,000 leftists from across Mexico marched in the southern city of Oaxaca to demand the withdrawal of federal police who were sent in on Oct. 29 to end violence linked to a five-month protest against the state's governor.

Flavio Sosa, a protest leader, said his movement had no ties to the explosions and did not know who could be behind them.

A PRI representative told radio station Formato 21 the explosions were probably carried out by groups trying to destabilize the government before President-elect Felipe Calderon's swearing-in on Dec. 1. Calderon is a member of Fox's ruling National Action Party.

The PRI backed the electoral tribunal when it confirmed Calderon's victory by less than 1 percentage point over leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador, former mayor of Mexico City and a member of the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, claimed the election was tainted by fraud and asked for a complete recount, which the court refused to order.
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#9
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
45
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#9


NOV 5th:



Massive March in Oaxaca

Today the Oaxaca People’s Popular Assembly (APPO) offered its response to Gov. Ulises Ruiz’s claim that the conflict in Oaxaca is limited to “one avenue in the capital.”

They filled over 3 miles of federal highway 190 with hundreds of thousands of protesters all shouting for the governor’s ouster.

SOURCE

:::
:::

NOV 7th:



The Communications War in Oaxaca
Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz Has Lost the Media War

The governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) and his PRI cronies are struggling to prevent accurate information from getting out to the public. And Narco News is doing its best to make all the information known to readers around the globe. It’s long past the days when URO could say, “No pasa nada,” nothing is going on. Now he says, “There’s only one small area blockaded.” And, “this is a minority group,” disregarding the daily reports of confrontations and blockades in every region of the state.

Read the rest

It is the Federal Police Who Now Look Surrounded and Isolated as they Camp Out in the Square

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/oaxaca
 
Doberman

Doberman

Sicc OG
#12
May 1, 2003
6,431
25
0
54
#12
2-0-Sixx said:
Prensa Latina: soldarity with Oaxaca from other parts of Mexico, including a possible teachers' strike in Michoacan.

Mexico City bombings
Today (11.7.06)

MEXICO CITY - Homemade bombs exploded early Monday at the Federal Electoral Tribunal, a bank branch and the headquarters of the former ruling party in the country's capital.

Police deactivated a fourth explosive before it went off at a second bank branch and were inspecting a backpack found outside an outlet of the Mexican restaurant chain Sanborns.




There were no injuries and no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombs, which were widely dispersed across the city. Emergency officials received two telephone calls shortly after midnight warning that bombs were about to be detonated.

The explosions shortly afterward damaged an auditorium at the headquarters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. They also shattered windows and caused minor damage at the bank, electoral court and nearby businesses and residences — rattling nerves in Mexico, which has been besieged by protests since its polarizing July 2 presidential elections.

"We categorically reject these criminal acts aimed at frightening the population, and we're going to work vigorously to clear this up and guarantee security," President
Vicente Fox said.

Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas asked residents not to panic but acknowledged the blasts were "creating a climate of uncertainty."

Mexico City's police department intensified security in the city's public transportation system, as well as at the presidential residence, Los Pinos, several federal government offices and at the U.S. and British Embassies, said a spokesman for the department, who was not authorized to give his name.

The explosions came a day after more than 20,000 leftists from across Mexico marched in the southern city of Oaxaca to demand the withdrawal of federal police who were sent in on Oct. 29 to end violence linked to a five-month protest against the state's governor.

Flavio Sosa, a protest leader, said his movement had no ties to the explosions and did not know who could be behind them.

A PRI representative told radio station Formato 21 the explosions were probably carried out by groups trying to destabilize the government before President-elect Felipe Calderon's swearing-in on Dec. 1. Calderon is a member of Fox's ruling National Action Party.

The PRI backed the electoral tribunal when it confirmed Calderon's victory by less than 1 percentage point over leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador, former mayor of Mexico City and a member of the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, claimed the election was tainted by fraud and asked for a complete recount, which the court refused to order.
Click to expand...


found a pic of the bombed building
 
enserio

enserio

Sicc OG
#18
Jun 15, 2005
4,591
14
0
#18
On this board, you might think the mexican people don't protest their own government.

Cats aren't marching outside city council in Oaxaca.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom