Posted on 10/29/2006 12:49:27 PM PST by 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.
They need to feed their water cannon from the sewage tanks. The leftists publicly p*ssed and crapped upon instantly lose all credibility, both for themselves and for their cause.
7:30p.m. My friends in Oaxaca say APPO announces on their radio station for interested people to bring gas tanks. They tipped an LP tanker over and threatened to torch it. Several fires are burning in the street, quite a lot of gun shots heard. Other radio stations recaptured are giving thanks to the Mexican Federal Police for coming to their defense. Most of the citizens of Oaxaca are grateful and standing WITH the Federal Police, but tonight they expect the worst. At 11:30pm they promise to do live TV coverage
"Rumors fly, just heard from a friend in the centro that there is
fighting in 7 areas of the city, a bus was taken and rammed in to one
of the water tanks, and that a father and his 14 year old son have
been killed.
Anyone?"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/message/1153
Would you be so kind as to add me to your ping list?
Thank you for the information rovenstinez. You are a very valuable resource here.
"In Mexico City, several hundred supporters of the Oaxaca protests converged on a hotel where Ruiz was rumored to be staying, damaging the grounds around the entrance and screaming "Murderer! Murderer!"
The government news agency Notimex reported that a vehicle transporting federal police to Oaxaca crashed Sunday, killing one officer and injuring 12. Federal officials could not confirm the report, but protesters cheered wildly as it circulated Oaxaca."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_oaxaca_unrest
Ping to my #48. I'm enjoying your posts by the way. You're very well-informed.
Thanks for your hard work in keeping us up to date on these important developments. You have kept us incomparably better informed than the MSM could or is willing to.
Crossing my fingers, and hoping your fizzle theory is correct.
It does sound like a fizzle is underway. Good! Thanks for all the posting.
Looks like it is over:
Mexican police seize center of Oaxaca
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago
OAXACA, Mexico - Federal police backed by armored vehicles and water cannons tore down barricades and stormed embattled Oaxaca on Sunday, seizing control of the city center from protesters who had held it for five months.
A 15-year-old boy manning one barricade was killed by a tear gas canister, human rights worker Jesica Sanchez said.
With helicopters clattering overhead, police earlier entered the city that was once one of Mexico's most popular tourist destinations from several sides. They marched up to a final metal barrier blocking the center, but pulled back as protesters armed with sticks attacked them from behind, hurling burning tires. The air filled with black smoke and tear gas.
Some demonstrators used syringes to pierce their arms and legs, then paint signs in their own blood decrying the police.
As night fell, however, protesters decided to abandon the center and regroup at a local university. They pledged to continue their battle to get Gov. Ulises Ruiz to resign, even as police tore down the banners and tents in the center that had served as the headquarters for months of often violent demonstrations.
At least eight people have died in the unrest since August.
For months, outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox resisted repeated calls to send federal forces to quell the protests and violence in this city, opting instead to try to negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff.
But after the deaths of an American and two local residents in protests on Friday, Fox sent in thousands of federal police who launched the first major offensive Sunday to quell the unrest.
___
This would **appear** to be an indication that the financial mkts are taking the view that, ugly as the Oaxacan situation might be, there's no threat to the stability of either the Mexican economy or the Peso at this point.
Obviously, this can change, but merely reporting ''da facts'' here.
Many thanks, yet again, for your extremely conscientious reporting!
Good Lord, rovenstinez. This is awful. The APPO stinks.
Thanks for all the great reporting-I hope you are right that this episode of leftist madness is at an end.
Wow. Looks pretty serious. I just hope that this doesn't incite the leftists Obrador supporters to go more militant. A civil war would really mess up our economy and thus elections.
Thanks to everyone who posted pictures and updates on this thread.
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