Mexican Federal Police Using Armored Cars to Advance Against APPO Leftists in Oaxaca (Translation)

El Universal ( Mexico City ) ^ | October 29, 2006 | Alejandro Torres, Jorge Octavio Ochoa & David Aponte ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

PFP utilizes armored cars to advance to the capital plaza of Oaxaca

The armored cars have begun throwing streams of water against members of APPO

Alejandro Torres, Jorge Octavio Ochoa & David Aponte/Correspondents
El Universal (Mexico City)
Oaxaca City, Oaxaca
Sunday 29 October 2006

2:05 p.m.  At 1:52 p.m. the movement of the armored cars of the Federal Preventive Police began on the international highway.

The armored cars have begun throwing out streams of water against the protestors. This is the first occasion in which the Federal Police are using these vehicles.

Without stopping to sound their horns, the PFP attempted to break through the barrier which hundreds of locals formed [in their way].

The local inhabitants did not cede one single centimeter and they pushed against the armored cars in an unequal struggle.

Thus begins the reporting of the first confrontations with the Federal Preventive Police, which is advancing in two compact columns protected by their shields. In the first line the police are not armed, but the antiriot units who are going just behind them do have large weapons to shoot tear gas.

The situation has become chaotic and the inhabitants have ignored the repeated call made by APPO not to put up resistance.

[Enterprise]

Bump

[DaoPian]

Brads Video Footage as posted on Chiapas Indymedia (Download) - Intense, but basically illustrates how screwed up and chaotic things are.

It's almost 40mb, as far as video goes, it records this man's final moments. Pretty incredible stuff. Oaxaca - Watch

[outdriving]

I don't doubt for a minute that Chavez is helping this out all he can. I said as much in my post.

Chavez fancies himself the next Castro, though he doesn't have an iron grip on power, yet. Lucky, he does not have the luxury of lining up his opponents against a wall and firing away that Che and Castro had. But he is much better financed, obviously. You've got nothing to prove to me.

The problem I have is the implication that this unrest would not have occurred without Chavez' support. Mexican history, especially in areas with large indigenous populations, does not support this.

Mexican Indians tend to require little provocation from leftist agitators or opportunity to take to the streets in opposition to the largely Caucasian oligarchy. As misguided as it might be, it is hardly surprising, given an unsophisticated populace and a repressive central government.

And the fact they ran like hell when the government showed up in force should not surprise you. There is every reason to believe at least some of the stories of the mass murder of Mexican Indians by the government in the recent past are true. Even if it is doubtful that Fox would allow such a thing in this very public situation.

No matter how biased the press, their mere presence with access to worldwide communication prevents much potential bloodshed in Mexico as well as Venezuela.

We should never let our politics blind us to reality. Right or wrong, these protesters fear the government with good reason.

As an aside, it is laughable that Mexico is expelling the Venezuelan ambassador for interfering with her internal politics, while Mexico is doing everything it can to interfere with ours. Why the double standard? Stupid Gringos, that they put up with this crap!

[StJacques]

"The problem I have is the implication that this unrest would not have occurred without Chavez' support."

I will be the first to agree with your proposition that the unrest would have occurred without any help from Chavez. That the what of what has occurred. But when you get to addressing how it has all transpired, then I would argue that financing does enter into the picture. Flavio Sosa, APPO's erstwhile leader, has been jetting back and forth from Oaxaca to Mexico City, along with his full staff, for over two months now; the APPO demonstrators in Mexico City who are manning the protest encampment outside the Mexican Senate are very well-fed and housed, there has been an extensive APPO propaganda effort mounted at no small expense to the organization, and much more that we can point to in the way of activities which incur significant expenses. The same thing can be said of Lopez Obrador's recent shutdown of the central business district in Mexico City in the aftermath of the July 2nd presidential election. Both protests would have occurred "all on their own," but the duration and manner in which these protests unfolded, the how question, suggests that there are outside sources of funding for the Mexican Left and Chavez's contacts are the best possible source we can identify from afar.

I'm pinging rovenstinez here, because he is in Mexico City and he can speak to the Cuban and Venezuelan connections with a very high degree of authority.

And yes; Mexico does exercise a significant amount of influence in our internal political life. There is no arguing that point.

[Jack Black]

Mexican security forces push to retake Oaxaca


By DUDLEY ALTHAUS and DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

OAXACA, MEXICO -- Mexican security forces today used tear gas, bulldozers and sheer physical force to literally push back demonstrators on their way toward taking control of the besieged city of Oaxaca.

Protesters sang the Mexican national anthem as they resisted, but didn't fight as security forces began their push to restore order.

Early on, demonstrators screamed and threw a few rocks as they were pushed back, but there were no immediate reports of violence or injuries, witnesses said,

However, as the afternoon wore on and the authorities fought their way closer to the town square, the situation grew more tense.

Security forces fired tear gas canisters into the crowd before backing off -- at least for the moment-- just before 4 p.m.

Earlier in the day, leaders of the protest movement that has paralyzed Oaxaca for the past five months urged their followers to avoid provoking the thousands of federal police and army troops that swept into the city Saturday to restore order.

The protesters' rebel radio was calling on people to lay in the streets to physically prevent water cannons and other vehicles from moving to the city center. Helicopters were circling tightly overhead. And the air was filled with smoke from thunderous homemade bottle rockets, launched so that protesters could alert each other to incoming federal forces.

Housewives, children, grandmothers and tens of thousands of others spilled into the streets to witness the dramatic events, seen here as historic, a grassroots revolt against a state government that some say has neglected the poor.

It was a cat-and-mouse game for much of the afternoon today as federal forces tried to make their way past barricades and into the Oaxaca town square where many protesters had taken refuge.

The police and soldiers filed past torched cars and city busses that blocked streets leading into the town square.

Authorities used water cannons to clear some of the more defiant of the protesters, but many cleared a path for the security forces without much of a fight.

Sometime before 4 p.m., authorities regained control of the city's town hall, Mexico City's El Universal reported.

[Jack Black]

The one above is the most recent story I see. It is published at approx 2:45 PST today.

[StJacques]

Alright, the latest news is that the PFP and APPO are "near each other" in the center of Oaxaca City. I have the feeling that the PFP is counting upon the fact that when it gets dark they will have the upper hand and they should be able to take the central square with much less resistance than they would otherwise encounter.

I have some pics to put up, the last three were taken near the city center:

[DaoPian]

Fox news right now.

[DaoPian]

Sorta OK report, nothing new.

[Founding Father]

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Oaxaca, Mexico: When the fight starts, it will be at Juarez University

Ah, youth. Those kids! What'll they think of next?

What they are thinking and doing right now is preparing for a confrontation with the federales. I just walked down towards the university and it doesn' look nice. Students, or those masquerading as students, have hijacked 8 vehicles that I could see from the south. I would assume they have done the same to the north. Buses, trucks and trailers have been jijacked and are being used to block Avenida Universidad, from Plaza Oaxaca (Soriana/Fábricas de Francia)) to the university. One of the vehicles is a propane gas tanker, property of Gas de Oaxaca. Its tires have been punctured.

The "students" are mostly masked, striding up and down the boulevard with chests puffed out, demonstrating their willingness to suffer grievious injury or death in support of their cause, whatever of that remains. Caos reigns in and around the plaza's parking lot. Cars and taxis driving around in circles trying to find a way out. Why people are out driving around in the face of this rather well publicized scrum, I do not know.

The "students" have set up barricades up and down the boulevard, blocking both north and southbound traffic. About every 50 meters or so the road is blocked with vehicles, tires, stacks of firewood or boulders. They began setting fire to the tires about 30 minutes ago. The federales have a helicopter in the air circling above the university, planning their approach.

The almost wholly peaceful entrance into the city by the federal forces looks likely to turn violent at the university. I could get no photos. It's just too dangerous. I am highly alergic to the sight of my own blood.

I'm going to take another walk down there now and see what's happening.

Just to keep the record straight, the PFP and other federal forces are not being welcomed like the Americans arriving in Paris (after De Gaulle allowed us in, that is). While everyone I have talked to is pleased that this may finally be coming to an end, no one is particularly pleased that federal forces have entered the city to effect that termination. Suspicion of both federal and state governments runs very high here and probably for good reason.




Some citizens object to the feds' presence. The signs, left to right, read:
"PFP get out"
"Until the fall of URO" (the governor)
"Oaxaca is not an army barracks. Army get out. Get out of Oaxaca URO and take your coterie with you."
"Oaxaca is not an army barracks. Army get out. Have pity on your own children. URO get out."

I hear gunfire or maybe rockets from the university. I gotta go.

http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/

[JCEccles]

The Mexican government appears to be showing remarkable restraint.

[livius]

Thanks for posting that report.

[outdriving]

"The same thing can be said of Lopez Obrador's recent shutdown of the central business district in Mexico City in the aftermath of the July 2nd presidential election. Both protests would have occurred "all on their own," but the duration and manner in which these protests unfolded, the how question, suggests that there are outside sources of funding for the Mexican Left and Chavez's contacts are the best possible source we can identify from afar."

Thanks for you reasoned response. I don't have any special knowledge of financing or the politics of the Mexican left, but I have been paying close attention since I traveled there a few times in the eighties and heard some hair raising stories from the locals, and since Mexico became a player in American politics.

Lopez Obrador has become a kind of Mexican "Al Gore" in the eyes of many who are reaching for a reason to dispute the election of the Fox party's guy. The lefty stuff does gain a parallel to the U.S. in that sense. But we must recognize that socialist political rhetoric is the accepted mainstream in Mexico, and you could not be elected dogcatcher without it. Even if the average Mexican knows it's so much talk. Hope springs eternal.

And the PRI is still out there in force, in spite of being dragged reluctantly to the reform game. And I suspect, having been in power during the rise of the drug cartel factor, that the PRI is still very much a force to be reckoned with in alliance with drug corruption. In addition to well entrenched local corruption on all levels. Mexico doesn't need a Mafia, as long as it has a PRI.

[Uriah_lost]

Thanks for posting that, ya beat me to it!

[StJacques]

No "new" news as of now, but more pics are up at El Universal, and they do show the dangerous nature of the situation a little more clearly, including the first one, whose caption on the El Universal homepage says that APPO is using Molotov cocktails against the PFP. Somehow it seems to me that portrays the second pic below more than the first, but I'm relating the details to you as they are put up.

[Uriah_lost]

Great pics! Thanks for the post.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Hope you do not mind me linking this other thread here. It has a few of the AP, Reuters, and AFP reports.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1728191/posts

[StJacques]

I have some news to post about what is happening in Mexico City's Federal District with the crackdown in Oaxaca. I don't know why I didn't think of it, but given that the truly radical elements of the PRD are concentrated in the capital, it should have been expected that something would happen there.

Story 1, I'll excerpt a couple of paragraphs:

---

APPO enters hotel in DF in search of Ulises Ruiz

Administrator of the building assures protestors that the Governor is not to be found there

2:18 p.m.A committee of members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), of the Otra Campaña [English="Other Campaign"] of the EZLN [i.e. the Zapatistas] and of the National Union of Workers entered the Hotel Nikko for a few minutes to demand that the administration of the building prove that Governor Ulises Ruiz is not a guest there.

In these moments some 200 people who support the Oaxacan movement protested at the doors of the hotel shouting slogans in repudiation of the state chief executive. . . .

. . . Approximately 40 policemen of the association of grenadiers, armed with anti-riot equipment, protected the main entrance of the building while the demonstration of the Oaxacans proceeded. . . .

---

Is this a report of an attempted lynching by APPO and EZLN "members" -- I'm laying strong odds these were PRD supporters -- right in Mexico City? What would they have done if they had been told Ulises Ruiz was there? Does anyone think they would have politely said "Would you please give him a message for us?"

And then there is this report, which I'm only excerpting:

---

APPO members confront grenadiers in the DF

Various anarchist groups confront uniformed officers

5:15 p.m. Grenadiers of the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District (SSP-DF) confronted some 150 members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) on the Central Axis Lazaro Cardenas [Avenue].

At the crossing of Juarez and Central Axis, the uniformed officers received the sympathizers of the Popular Assembly with shield and nightstick in hand. The police action triggered a violent response from the protestors and they surrounded the uniformed officers.

It is agreed that contained within the anarchist groups (whose faces were covered in black and they were wearing hats), were university students and union activists supporting the Oaxacans, more grenadiers came up to the crossing. . . .

. . . With pushes, the protestors little by little managed to fold before the grenadiers. Among those Oaxacan sympathizers there has been a brush of physical confrontation, some asked for respect for the police and others refused it.

After a meeting which teachers and leaders of the Popular Assembly carried out in a building of the teacher's union located on Allende and Belisarion Dominguez streets, they agreed to carry out protests from this Sunday onward around the city to call the attention of the public "to the present repression of the people of Oaxaca by the PFP," assured one of the leaders who headed the march and refused to give his name. . . .

---

I guess Mexico City is where disgruntled leftists retire to protest these days, knowing that the local government will protect and sympathize with them.

[DaoPian]

Denial of Service Attack on Mexican Consulates - Angry White Kid is linking to this:

*** http://www.mountainrebel.net/oaxaca/ ***

I think just going to the site contributes to the attack. There is a frame with a bunch of other frames that automatically reload. They're calling it some kind of electronic blockade.

[JCEccles]

It beats working for a living.

For leftists anyway.