Posted on 09/28/2006 2:40:52 PM PDT by StJacques
The Oaxacanization of the Country: From the Myth of Fraud to that of Ingovernability It was left clear this week, the connection between the insurrectional strategy of Oaxaca and that of AMLO, which already seems to be weakening between desertions and the universal loss of prestige. The difference is one of perspective: For AMLO and his landscaped spaces it was considered vital to exhibit as a survival certificate the oxygen tank which he offered to the Popular Assembly of the People (sic) of Oaxaca (APPO) to identify its goal with that of the defeated presidential candidate: that of preventing the President elected at the ballot box from taking possession [of his office]. Whereas APPO slowly came around to this form of escalating its offensive against the capital of the republic and several states "the strategy of the Oaxacanization of the country," it has [instead] come to strengthen their Oaxacan enemies. The great beneficiary was Governor Ulises Ruiz, because the threat of an APPO on the national scale is conducive to bringing down with it the institutional framework of the country, in light of the insurrectional threat. And among the most prejudiced are those, from the PRD, PAN, and his own PRI, who would like to settle scores with the Oaxacan Chief Executive and are demanding his head since the disassociation speech of APPO with the "civil resistance" of AMLO and with any other expression of radicalism or sedition. They "swore" it was a justifiable local opposition facing an evil local government. Everything began on Sunday, as [said] the title of a book published in 1963, with illustrations by Alberto Beltran and comments from Elena Poniatowska on Mexico City, its environs, and some provincial cities nearby. But this time it happened last Sunday in the course of the program of Denisse Maerker on Televisa's Channel 4. There, the leader of APPO, Flavio Sosa terrified the audience with his unconvincing explanations of the assault at the hotel where they attacked Ricardo Rocha and [Oaxacan] state legislators and with his rhetoric fully assimilated within that of AMLO. He spoke of his preparations for the "peaceful popular mobilization in the capital of the country"; and that "the 2nd of July witnessed the rejection" of neoliberalism; and that "society no longer accepts this economic system"; and that "it is a referendum on what happened July 2nd, and the mobilization is a questioning of obsolete laws and out-of-date institutions." And it all continued on Monday, with the warning of Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, of APPO's Provisional Directive Commission, which came as celestial music for AMLO, but also was political life insurance for Governor Ulises Ruiz, which thus verified the "partial confession" of the AMLO-APPO alliance against the electoral result: "we will not let Felipe Calderon take office as President," the leader exclaimed, if Ulises [Ruiz] does not leave office. The boastfulness of the AMLO-APPO embrace continued in the press on Tuesday, with the welcoming and the offer of support in which the government of the Federal District and the PRD anticipated the Oaxacan march for, with their members, a return to the occupation of encampments in Mexico City, at the end of next week. Closing Ranks Before the Escalation and APPO's Tardy Reflections Also on Sunday, but in Milenio,1 the headquarters gathering information that "APPO itself is cultivating against four governors," three of them PRD members and one from the PRI, coincidentally identified by his dispostion to accept the electoral result which gave Calderon the victory: respectively, Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia, from Chiapas; Zeferino Torreblanca, from Guerrero; Lazaro Cardenas Batel, from Michoacan, and Fidel Herrera, from Veracruz. Another Sign of AMLO-APPO Identity, Difficult to Hide Nearly 700 social and political organizations have decided to emulate the Oaxacan movement throughout the country, the Milenio article terrifyingly reports. The myth of electoral fraud, AMLO's strategy thus transiting into the construction of the myth of ingovernability, seeing if with this one does manage to prevent the President-elect from taking possession [of his office] and forcing a new election. In the growth of the APPOs in the Oaxacan style, AMLO seems to be finding his strongest point, but at the same time it appears that there APPO is finding its weakest point, in as much as it is strengthening its enemy, the Governor of Oaxaca, who is closing the ranks of institutional Mexico [behind him], showing an APPO used by AMLO in his scheme of making life impossible for the new government. From which AMLO, from his perspective, has decided yesterday to plant among those who he considers his legislators an alert message against the application of the law and the use of public force against those he considers the new meat of ingovernability: the Oaxacan movement. While the Oaxacan leader Flavio Sosa himself took pains on Ezra Shabot's news program (W Radio) in a speech of affection for the law and separating [APPO] from the PRD, it is too late and unconvincing after the week's events. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Translator's Notes:
1 I am fairly certain this refers to Milenio Magazine, which is located in Mexico City.
A Mexican Affairs and Latin American Left ping.
If memory serves, Oaxaca has always been a trouble spot in Mexico.
Your memory serves you quite well Fiddlstix. Perhaps not as much as its next-door neighbor to the south, Chiapas, but still quite a bit. The original Mexican "homegrown" drug operations depended upon Oaxaca for marijuana and opium poppy cultivation, making the state pretty much "off limits" to federal authority. But that also brought underdevelopment along with it, because it scared development away. And if you go very far back you will find that Oaxaca was the center of violent revolutionary activity going back to Emiliano Zapata.
Could you please explain why this was moved from "News/Activism" to "Bloggers and Personal"? This is a published editorial on a situation which threatens mass civil disorder in Mexico, immediately south of our border. I have obeyed the rules here and I respectfully argue that this belongs back on the "News/Activism" forum. This is not a "personal blog."
I respectfully second the request of StJacques to move his ongoing posts about the situation in Mexico back to News/Activism.
Good God-I'm convinced that Obrador and his faction are certifiably insane. I'm so glad I don't have any relatives living and working in Oaxaca.
This pit bull just won't let go, will he?
Jim, this is a most important news story, St. Jacques is providing a valuable translation service for us, and acting as a 'link clearing house.'
There is a concerted effort being made to take over our major oil supplies and supplier. There is a concerted effort underway to destabilize Mexico, with potentially catastrophic consequences for us.
On another level, this is Freerepublic's opportunity to scoop the MSM.
We're back on News/Activism now. It's ok.
And the risks of NOT taking forceful action...?
Felipe's "reform proposals" do NOT excite:
http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/377893.html
Good thing the Senate's voting on the border wall tomorrow...
Felipe's initial proposals are, in my opinion, designed to create domestic consensus behind his presidency, not to promote reform. If AMLO's protests continue, the prospects for reform could be the real casualty.
Achmen nutjob and Chavez were here a day apart, with different styles and very different overall reactions to both of them, official, and otherwise.But the salient fact I take away from those delirious few days which taught us all so much is they are regional equivalents to one another, with the Iranian much the stronger, and more effective: they see a major role for themselves: Chavez playing the same role in power, dollars and influence in various Latin American venues that Achmenut plays with Hezbollah, while he spreads Venezuelan money (oil) around wherever he thinks it will buy him notoriety/ He will fail where and in ways the Man from Iran has already succeeded (through the agencies of Syria, Lebanon, and Hezbollah.)
Wait two and a half months and see where Chavez is around December 1 when the opposition candidate has galvanized the opposition. Just wait. Rosales isn't going to win, but he's going to hang the bell around Chavez's neck and he'll sneak up on no one after that. Hugo's days are numbered.
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