SWOPblogger

Friends: What follows is a chronology of recent events in Oaxaca. We have tried to check all the information that appears below, but this has not always been possible. Please redistribute to as wide an audience as possible. Thanks very much for your solidarity on behalf of the people of Oaxaca

GENERAL TIMELINE OF EVENTS SINCE THE ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE AND THE ENTRANCE OF FEDERAL FORCES

FRIDAY 27

Ulises Ruiz’s paramilitary groups shoot at the barricades of Santa Maria and San Bartolo Coyotepec, injuring approximately 20 people, and assassinating 3 people: Esteban López Zurita, the teacher Emilio Alonso Fabián and Brad Will, correspondent from Indymedia New York

The “death caravan” (paramilitaries in unidentified vehicles) continue their random attacks on various barricades

At least 15 people are reported to have been kidnapped at different barricades, being brought the following day to the military base in Miahuatlan.

SATURDAY 28

Elements of the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) arrive at the Oaxaca airport and begin to surround various barricades. Shots are heard in various neighbourhoods.

The Secretary of the Interior (/Secretaria de Gobernacion/) gives an ultimatum to the APPO to hand over the city and the government offices that very afternoon

Radio Universidad, the radio of the movement, starts coming under attack.

SUNDAY 29

At 7 a.m., the PFP begin advancing on the city accompanied by armored vehicles to lift the barricades, riot police armed with clubs and shields, backed up by federal units with firearms. Approximately 4,500 elements of the PFP try to enter the city with armored vehicles and high pressure water canons (water which was mixed with chemicals), shooting teargas and firearms, and backed up by helicopters pertaining to the PFP and the Army.

The APPO calls for peaceful resistance. To impede the advance of the armored vehicles, people take the streets creating human shields by laying down in the streets. Among the nonviolent actions, citizens distributed flowers and food to the Federal officers, formed human shields, and even sung the Mexican national hymn 10 meters from federal forces. In further protest of the violent incursion by these repressive forces, many citizens confronted the police, cutting themselves and letting their blood fall to the ground in a symbolic act.

Attacks against Radio Universidad continue with unmarked patrols shooting towards the installations, blockage of their signal, and even at one point cutting the electricity to the station. The transmission went in and out throughout the night, due to various attempts to silence the last voice of the APPO in their disinformation campaign (Radio APPO can be heard on their website at http://www.asambleapopulardeoaxaca.com ).

An accident involving PFP forces is reported in Tehuacan, Puebla, resulting in 14 wounded, among them 3 seriously, and 1 killed.

The operative this Sunday, October 29^th , leaves a toll of 4 dead, among them a nurse, two teachers (one man and one woman) and a child of 12 years. As of 1 p.m. on Monday, October 30^th , Radio Universidad reported a total of 40 disappearances. For its part the APPO (Press Release, 10/30, 11 a.m.) reports more than 60 people detained, many of whom were transported to military bases, illegal under Mexican law.

Police begin raiding houses in search of members of the APPO.

The PFP evicts and occupies the zocalo (main plaza) of the city. APPO members withdraw to the university campus (ciudad universitaria), only to return with more strength and surround the federal forces that occupy the zocalo.

Section 22 (the teacher’s union) informs in a communiqué that they will not return to classes.

The National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE) announces a indefinite national strike in the states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Tlaxcala, Morelos, Zacatecas, Mexico City, and Oaxaca

On Sunday 29/10, the bodies of 6 APPO members who were assassinated are found in the mountains of Oaxaca ­ at every moment the number of disappeared continues to increase.

In Mexico City, 20 protestors are arrested at the demonstration in front of the Secretary of the Interior (Segob): 8 women and 12 men. Today, Monday 30/10, the twenty were set free with legal conditions.

MONDAY 30

At one in the afternoon, a large mobilization departs from three different places in the city of Oaxaca (Procuraduría, IEEPO and Santa Rosa) in order to arrive at the city´s zocalo. The marchers surrounded the police that were guarding access to the central plaza with tanks, clubs, tear gas and assault rifles. Mexico City’s Independent Media Center reports that 20,000 people were present in the march.

The detention of at least 23 people by the special operations unit of the PFP this past Sunday has been confirmed. Before being turned into the prosecutor’s office, these people were transported to the 28th military zone.

A caravan of 6 buses carrying students from DF to Oaxaca is detained by members of the PRI (Party of the Institutionalized Revolution ­ to which URO pertains) in Nochistlan. The students are beaten and at least 3 of the buses (each carrying 45 people) are reported disappeared.

The sixth commision of the EZLN and the Other Campaign block the bridge that links Sonora with the United States. A call is made to close streets, highways and airports all over the country on the 1^st of November and to convene an indefinite national strike on the 20^th of November in protest against the repression in Oaxaca and calling for the exit of Ulises Ruiz from the position of governor of Oaxaca.

With the exception of the PRI, the remaining sections of the House of Representatives reach an agreement to ask the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz, to request resignation or step down from the position, with the objective of recuperating the governability of the state. URO refuses to receive the correspondence from the mentioned office.

Fox declares that the PFP entered the city without fire arms although there are photos of agents with AK-47s and R-15s.

A contingent of the APPO installs another encampment in front of the Santo Domingo.

SOLIDARITY ACTIONS
Solidarity actions are reported in:

MEXICO:

Mexico City, Merida, Michoacán, Cuernavaca, Tlaxcala, Pachuca, San
Luis Potosí, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Sonora, Chihuahua, Jalisco

USA:

Austin, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Raleigh, New
York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle,
Miami, Tucson, Washington DC, Fresno

Montreal, Quebec

Vancouver, Canada

Sao Paolo, Brasil

Londres, Inglaterra

Barcelona, Cataluna

Santiago de Chile, Chile

Madrid, España

Milan, Italia

Munster, Alemania

Berlin, Alemania

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Caracas, Venezuela

In a joint statement, organizations from Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay demand that Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon resolve the problems in the state of Oaxaca, and holds them accountable for all of the deaths. They make a call to all of the people of the world to work in solidarity with Oaxaca.

For more information:

http://www.narconews.com/

http://www.indymedia.org/en/

CIEPAC, A.C. (Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Políticas de Acción Comunitaria) calle de la Primavera No. 6 Barrio de La Merced
29240 San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas MEXICO
tel/fax en México (01 967) 674-5168
fuera de México (+52 967) 674-5168
ce: ciepac@laneta.apc.org
personal: mpickard@laneta.apc.org
skype: miguelpickardwhite
www.ciepac.org

# posted by karlos @ 12:09 PM