OAXACA SCENE OF FEDERALES CRACKDOWN, STRIKERS DISPERSED
FIVE-MONTH LONG GENERAL STRIKE INTERRUPTED BY FEDERAL FORCES ORDERED BY FOX TO OCCUPY OAXACA ZOCALO
30 October 2006

In hopes of bringing peace and normalcy to strike-ridden Oaxaca, outgoing pres. Vicente Fox ordered 4,600 Federal Preventive Police, airlifted in from the capital, to occupy the city's central square, or Zócalo. The move came after 5 months of smothering general strikes, with a broad coalition of demonstrators demanding the resignation of regional governor Ulises Ruiz and establishing barricades.

The five-month-long strike, which began as a teachers' union walkout, but mushroomed into a political movement with barricades and several violent deaths, after Ruiz allegedly ordered police to disperse demonstrators with violence. Oaxaca, a city of 275,000 inhabitants, with a vibrant tourist industry, has been captive to the political crisis, with the main union representing 70,000 striking teachers and with other unions and political parties joining in an effort to force Ruiz from office.

There were some reports of local residents cheering and waving white flags as the federal police entered the city. Many had felt that, legitimate as either the strikers' or the governor's positions may have been, Fox had abandoned the city to chaos in an effort to keep his party out of the conflict during an election year. Since July, as is widely reported, the opposition has staged a "civil resistance" in Mexico City's Zócalo, demanding a full manual recount of votes in the presidential election, decided by a margin of just 0.1%, and charging Fox's governing PAN party with fraud.

The country has been beset with a series of intense clashes, including mounting violence related to drugs and human trafficking along the US border, and the Pacific, and the "high profiel street brawl in May pitting federal and state police against residents of the town of San Salvador Atenco", as reported by the LA Times.

The decision to intervene in Oaxaca came on the heels of three deaths on Friday, one an American journalist, and two Mexican men, which brought an increase in nationwide and international pressure for Fox to act to reduce the tensions and even to impose a binding negotiating process.

Unconfirmed reports from the ranks of protesters said one 15-year-old boy had been shot and killed by police, and the protest leaders told the press "The police came in fighting, as is their habit". There have been reports of undercover regional police shooting and killing demonstrators, in sporadic incidents and with impunity, over the course of the strikes.

Protesters left the Zócalo to the Federales, but strike leaders said they planned a peaceful march for today, to end at the Zócalo. They have been quoted as saying the Zócalo is the people's space and they will "retake" it by non-violent means. They have also reiterated that demands for Ruiz's resignation are "not negotiable".

They accuse Ruiz of rigging the 2004 elections and of implementing an autocratic system to maintain his Institutional Revolutionary Party's grip on power. The PRI ruled Mexico as a near dictatorship, under a corrupt, one-party system, for 71 years.

As federal police now set up camp in the Zócalo, there is tension as to how the situation will now evolve. Protesters, who had nearly reached an agreement on teachers' salaries one week ago, are now reportedly determined to re-establish their barricades and turn back what is seen as a military intervention.

Media reports show images possibly showing those responsible for shooting deaths on Friday; allegations suggest killings were carried out by plainclosthes state police. Fox will have to keep close tabs on police activities, prevent any violent provocations and be patient in negotiating a political process to officially resolve the strikes. [s]

• CNN: "Mexico Congress asks Ruiz to quit"

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