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Mexico: an American cameraman and a teacher killed by ball with Oaxaca OAXACA (Mexico) - an American cameraman, Brad Will, independent chain Indymedia, and a teacher were killed by ball Friday at the time of exchanges of shots in the town of Oaxaca (southern), according to leaders of the movement of protest against the local governor who has lasted for more than 4 months. Brad Will "received a ball in the chest", declared with AFP Florentino Lopez, spokesman of the Parliament Popular of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) which requires the resignation of the governor of the State Ulises...

Venezuela's presence in Mexican presidential investiture unconfirmed Mexico City. - The government of Venezuela still has not confirmed whether it will send a representative to Mexico to the presidential investiture of Felipe Calderon, the 1st of December, according to the official list circulated today by the Mexican presidency. The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who is seeking reelection in the elections which will be carried out in his country the 3rd of December, up to now has avoided recognizing Calderon's victory, among other reasons since he considers there were "strange things" in the Mexican elections. According to information released...

APPO will beseige PFP in Oaxaca's Zocalo Capital Plaza The State Council of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca agrees not to permit either entry or exit to one single element of federal forces Jorge Octavio Ochoa & Alejandro Torres/Correspondents El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Wednesday 15 November 2006 2:28 p.m.  The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) will beseige, starting the 25th of November, the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) who are located in the historic center of the capital and for two days APPO will not permit either entry or exit to...

APPO will reactivate blockades in Oaxaca They also agree to extend their protests against the government over which Felipe Calderon Hinojosa will preside if when he begins his mandate Ulises Ruiz Ortiz still remains in his position [as Governor of Oaxaca]. Alejandro Torres & Jorge Octavio Ochoa/Correspondents El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Monday 13 November 2006 1:17 p.m.   Reinstalling barricades, taking state public offices and town councils, and the closure of major highways are some of the conclusions which the constituent congress of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) approved upon concluding its work early...

Reporting confrontation between PFP and students in Oaxaca The cordon of federal agents fell back about 200 meters and they returned to the starting point, the terminus of University Avenue Jorge Octavio Ochoa, Alejandro Torres & David Aponte/Correspondents El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Thursday 2 November 2006 11:20 a.m.   A confrontation between students of the Benito Juarez Autonomous University of Oaxaca (UABJO) and elements of the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) is being reported. The uniformed officers are being practically bombarded by a rain of stones, sticks, molotov cocktails, and fireworks, from the interior [of the University] to...

PRI members ask Segob to investigate financing of APPO The National College of Adherent Organizations of the PRI [Institutional Revolutionary Party] calls for the clarification of those who have supported the more than 160 days of protests which were carried out in Oaxaca Jorge Teherán El Universal (Mexico City) Tuesday 31 October 2006 6:31 p.m.   Organizations of the PRI demanded today of the Governmental Secretary, Carlos Abascal Carranza, to make publicly known who they find behind the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), since it is known that "these movements cost." In a press conference, organizations adhering...

They are marching in Oaxaca in support of Ruiz They are demonstrating in favor of the intervention of the Federal Preventive Police; they thank President Fox; they repudiate APPO Alejandro Torres, David Aponte & Jorge Octavio Ochoa/Correspondents El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Tuesday 31 October 2006 12:18 p.m. Sympathizers of Governor Ulises Ruiz are carrying out a march in the streets of the city of Oaxaca, in which they are shouting slogans against the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). The demonstration left around 10:30 a.m. from the Seven Regions bridge on Porfirio Diaz, and...

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...

PFP arrives in Oaxaca; commerical air traffic closed Six Boeing aircraft have landed at the Benito Juarez International Airport with federal components; Bell type helicopters are also observed Jorge Octavio Ochoa and Alejandro Torres/Correspondents El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Saturday 28 October 2006 12:15  An intense mobilization of aircraft of the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) can be observed at this time at the Benito Juarez International Airport of this city. At 11:53 in the morning a Boeing airplane landed registered as XCMPF of the Federal Preventive Police, in the disembarkation quarter which it carried out this morning. On...

These are all from the homepage of the Mexico City newspaper El Universal's web site, I am including translations of the captions provided: Unknown subjects burn a van of the PRI [Institutional Revolutionary Party], where a shootout supposedly began in the municipality of Santa Lucia del Camino, Oaxaca Unknown men shoot at APPO members and reporters in Santa Lucia del Camino, Oaxaca; a foreign cameraman dies Unknown men shoot at journalists and members of APPO in the municipality of Santa Lucia; up to now they report 12 injured and the death of a foreign cameraman A cameraman, who looks foreign,...

Blockades Suffocate Oaxaca They are provoking chaos and bottlenecks all over the city, by the closure of streets and main highways which APPO began this morning Jorge Octavio Ochoa/Correspondent El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Friday 27 October 2006 12:55 p.m.  Absolute chaos and bottlenecks throughout the city were occasioned by the blockade of streets and main highways which the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) began this morning. The main international highway 190 has been closed since the earliest hours today as well as the Las Riveras de Atoyac highways, which were the only alternatives for...

Return to classes approved in Oaxaca During the consultation of Section 22 of the SNTE, 31,078 teachers voted "yes" and 20,387 made theirs "no." The tentative date for the return to the classrooms will be next Monday Jorge Octavio Ochoa/Correspondent El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Thursday 26 October 2006 4:04 p.m.  After eight hours of waiting and in absence of union leader Enrique Rueda Pacheco, today the wishes of the assembly of Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) made known the official result of its consultation on the return to classes. From the outskirts...

APPO gives ultimatum to Ulises Ruiz to resign within 72 hours They announce that as of Friday they will put into effect throughout the day a blockade of major highways in all the state and they will maintain the barricades throughout the city Jorge Octavio Ochoa/Correspondent El Universal Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Tuesday 24 October 2006 1:49 p.m.  As of Friday a blockade of major highways will be put into effect throughout the day in all the state [of Oaxaca], barricades will be maintained throughout the city and for the first time since they began this movement, all the population will...

They voted to resume classes in Oaxaca, teachers reveal The consultation within the teacher's union showed a result of 26 thousand teachers in favor of a return to classes and 15 thousand against the proposal, according to sources within Section 22 of the SNTE1 Jorge Octavio Ochoa/Correspondent El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Saturday 21 October 2006 8:40 p.m.  According to sources in Section 22 of the SNTE who were within the assembly, the consultation among the teacher's union showed a result of 26 thousand teachers in favor of a return to classes and 15 thousand against the...

APPO whips Rueda The leader of Section 22 of the SNTE1 receives a series of criticisms on behalf of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, who described him as a "traitor and sellout." Jorge Octavio Ochoa / Correspondent El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Friday 20 October 2006 1:20 p.m. The leader of Section 22 of the SNTE, Enrique Rueda Pacheco, this morning received an official series of criticisms on behalf of the sympathizers of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), who catalogued him as a traitor and sellout. Meanwhile, the tension within...

Teacher's Union Accepts Resumption of Classes in Oaxaca The Secretary General of Section 22 of the SNTE,1 Enrique Rueda Pacheco, makes known that next Saturday they will set the date for the return to the classrooms. Liliana Alcantara El Universal Mexico City Thursday 19 October 2006 7:02 p.m.The Secretary General of Section 22 of the SNTE, Enrique Rueda Pacheco, informed everyone of the decision of the teacher's union of resuming classes in Oaxaca after five months of conflict. He made known that next Saturday they will set the date for the resumption of classes, which could be Monday, October...

APPO begins evacuating government offices Brigades of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca are carrying out tours of [government] premises to remove personnel. Reporting marches in support of Governor Ulises Ruiz. Jorge Octavio Ochoa / Correspondent El Universal (Mexico City) Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Wednesday 18 October 2006 1:30 p.m. -- Brigades of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) began tours of government offices around 1:00 p.m. to evacuate all personnel who work there. The first point which they visited was the Secretary General of Government, on República road, and afterwards they moved to the...

OAXACA, Mexico — Should federal troops attempt to wrest control of this southern capital from strikers, they'll face scores of avenues like Calle Almendros, now a gantlet of obstacles designed to slow an advance. Strikers have prepared a 200-yard-long segment by stretching wires across it at neck, ankle and waist height, placing large rocks side-by-side and parking a commandeered school bus sideways to block traffic in both directions. Like many other streets, it has been fortified with small bunkers made of sandbags and stocked with dozens of bottles for Molotov cocktails. Hundreds of smaller rocks were piled up to be...

Movement of Naval Troops Reported in Salina Cruz [Oaxaca] Alberto Lopez El Universal (Mexico City) Sunday 1 October 2006 Juchitan, Oaxaca -- Neighbors of the port city of Salina Cruz and Huatulco [Oaxaca] reported "an unusual movement" of naval troops from the end of last week. "We have seen the arrival of planes, armored cars, and helicopters," said a source who asked to remain anonymous. Military sources confirmed the versions of witnesses, even though they clarified that the movement of troops corresponds with a program of combat practice which is regularly carried out in a joint form between Marines...

Helicopters Flying Over Oaxacan Encampments Due to the presence of Navy forces in the airspace of the zone where protestors of the teacher's union and APPO are located, a maximum alert is decreed; warning that a dislocating operation may be carried out tonight Jorge Octavio Ochoa/Correspondent El Universal Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Saturday 30 September 2006 5:00 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., two Navy helicopters flew through the airspace over the center of Oaxaca City; at 4:50 and 5:00 p.m. new overflights appeared, apparently in reconnaisance. From La Ley radio, the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) called for...