Urgent Call For Support Against Violent Repression In Oaxaca
Photos, Call to Action from OAXACA
Thursday, July 19 2007 @ 07:30 AM PDT
Below is an URGENT call for international solidarity from the APPO here in Oaxaca. Please forward this call everywhere. Also below are links to just a few of the photos that I took of the Battle for Oaxaca and the intense repression we saw here on July 16, 2007.
The following is a repost from an anarchist comrade currently in Oaxaca.
Comrades,
Below is an URGENT call for international solidarity from the APPO here in Oaxaca. Please forward this call everywhere. Also below are links to just a few of the photos that I took of the Battle for Oaxaca and the intense repression we saw here on July 16, 2007.
It´s up to independent media to expose the truth about what has happened here in Oaxaca, against the lies of the corporate media. The images below chronicle the arc of the day´s unfolding - beginning with the dances and songs of the People´s Guelaguetza, through the the peaceful march, the police attack, and the battles in the streets.
Tonight we will be documenting the International Day Against Repression, remembering those imprisoned, disappeared, injured, and dead. Following, we will be posting a full report on all events that have transpired here in Oaxaca.
Images from the Frontlines of the Battle for Oaxaca:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88396.html
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88414.html
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88435.html
Oaxaca, July 16, 2007
URGENT ACTION--PLEASE SEND PETITION BELOW AND FORWARD WIDELY
NEW ESCALATION OF POLICE REPRESSION AGAINST THE POPULAR MOVEMENT IN OAXACA!
This past Monday, July 16, at approximately 11:30 a.m., elements of the Municipal Police, Preventive Police, and Industrial and Banking Police, attacked with tear gas and rocks, marchers of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and teachers of the National Teachers Workers Union, Section 22, who were trying to join the local festivities Fiesta Popular Oaxaqueña, in Guelaguetza Auditorium, Cerro del Fortín de la Ciudad de Oaxaca.
During this attack, several police brigades brutally beat the teachers and peaceful marchers, throwing tear gas against local commercial offices, private homes, and public buildings. Moreover, the violent escalation ended up in several wounded, included journalists from the Reforma, Noticias, Marca, and Tiempo newspapers, who were covering the brutal beatings imparted by the police. Although not yet officially confirmed, we would like to report 50 wounded, 45 people detained, and at least one dead.
These violent acts are marked by the State Government actions during Guelaguetza 2007, where areas of Cerro del Fortín were sealed off in which members of the Mexican Military Elite, the Preventative Federal Police, and the Federal Agency of Investigation participated. This operation was coordinated by the Secretaría de Protección Ciudadana, whose objective was to prevent the celebration organized by APPO and Section 22. Nevertheless, the Administration had declared days earlier their absolute respect for such peaceful celebration.
We consider that this incident is one of many provocations implemented by the state government against the APPO and is an irrefutable sign, moreover, of a government that is unable to dialogue, opting instead for the irrational use of police force against civilians. These actions are clear evidence of a recurring violation of human rights in the Oaxaca region, illegal under international treaties signed by Mexico.
Therefore, we make the following immediate demands:
• For an end to police represion, harrasment, and intimidation of the social and popular movements in Oaxaca
• We condenm governmental actions and indiscriminate use of force by the State and Federal police
• We demand the release of all political prisioners, making Federal and State officials responsible in the case of arbitrary detentions and disappearances of civilians.
Send your petitions to with copies to human rights entities:
Presidente FELIPE DE JESÚS CALDERÓN HINOJOSA
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, México DF
Tel: +52 (55) 27891100
Fax: +52 (55) 52772376
felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Licenciado Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña,
Secretario de Gobernación,
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,
Delegación Cuauhtémoc, México D.F., C.P. 06600, México,
Fax: +52 (55) 5093 3414
frjramirez@segob.gob.mx
Copies to:
Louise Arbour, Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos
Humanos, (High Commissioner for United Nations Human Rights Commission)
tb-petitions@ohchr.org, oacnudh@hchr.org.mx
Sr. Santiago Cantón
Secretario Ejecutivo
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, (Executive Secretary of the
Interamerican Human Rights Commission)
cidhoea@oas.org
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico Sur 3469, Col.
San Jerónimo Lídice,
10200, México, D.F.
Tel: 631 00 40, 6 81 81 25
Fax: 56 81 84 90
Lada sin costo: 01 800 00 869
correo@cndh.org.mx
(scroll down for another article in English)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Oaxaca de Juárez, 16 de Julio de 2007
ACCIÓN URGENTE
¡NUEVA ESCALADA DE REPRESIÓN POLICIACA
CONTRA MOVIMIENTO POPULAR EN OAXACA!
Este lunes 16 de julio, aproximadamente a las 11:30 a.m., elementos de la
Policía Municipal, Policía Preventiva y Policía Bancaria e Industrial
enfrentaron, con bombas de gas lacrimógeno y piedras, a manifestantes de la
Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca y maestros de las Sección XXII del
Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación que intentaron subir al
Auditorio Guelaguetza, localizado en el Cerro del Fortín de la Ciudad de
Oaxaca, como parte de los festejos de la Fiesta Popular de los oaxaqueños.
En este enfrentamiento, los diversos cuerpos policíacos golpearon
brutalmente a maestros y manifestantes, además lanzaron bombas de gas
lacrimógeno en contra de establecimientos comerciales, casas particulares y
edificios públicos. Así mismo, en la escalada violenta resultaron lesionados
reporteros gráficos de los periódicos Reforma, Noticias, Marca y Tiempo,
quienes daban cobertura a la feroz golpiza de la policía a los
manifestantes. Extraoficialmente se menciona la detención de 45 personas, 50
heridos y por lo menos un muerto.
Estos hechos violentos se enmarcan en el dispositivo implementado por el
Gobierno Estatal denominado "Guelaguetza 2007", mediante el cual se acordonó
el Cerro del Fortín y en el cual participan elementos de Elite del Ejército
Mexicano, Policía Federal Preventiva, Agencia Federal de Investigaciones,
Policía Preventiva y Policía Municipal de Oaxaca. Este operativo coordinado
por la Secretaría de Protección Ciudadana tenía el objetivo de impedir la
celebración de la Guelaguetza Popular por parte de la APPO y la Sección XXII
en dicho inmueble, no obstante que el Gobierno del Estado declaró días antes
su respeto absoluto a esta celebración.
Consideramos que este hecho se suma a las provocaciones implementadas por el
Gobierno Estatal en contra de la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca y
además es un signo ominoso de un Gobierno que ante la incapacidad del
diálogo recurre una vez más al uso irracional de la Fuerza Pública. Estas
acciones son envidencia de la recurrented violación de derechos humanos en
Oaxaca, ilegales bajo tratados internacionales firmados por el Estado de
México.
Por todo lo anterior solicitamos se pronuncien por lo siguiente:
• Por el cese a la represión policíaca y hostigamiento al Movimiento
Social y Popular de Oaxaca.
• Reprobamos la acción gubernamental en cuanto al uso indiscriminado de
la Fuerza Pública Estatal y Federal.
• Demandamos la libertad de todo prisionero político, responsabilizando
al Gobierno Estatal y Federal en caso de llegarse a registrar detenciones
arbitrarias o desapariciones en contra de los manifestantes.
Mandar comunicaciones a:
Presidente FELIPE DE JESÚS CALDERÓN HINOJOSA
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, México DF
Tel: +52 (55) 27891100
Fax: +52 (55) 52772376
felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Licenciado Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña,
Secretario de Gobernación,
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,
Delegación Cuauhtémoc, México D.F., C.P. 06600, México,
Fax: +52 (55) 5093 3414
frjramirez@segob.gob.mx
Copias a:
Louise Arbour, Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos
Humanos, (High Commissioner for United Nations Human Rights Commission)
tb-petitions@ohchr.org, oacnudh@hchr.org.mx
Sr. Santiago Cantón
Secretario Ejecutivo
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, (Executive Secretary of the
Interamerican Human Rights Commission)
cidhoea@oas.org
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico Sur 3469, Col.
San Jerónimo Lídice,
10200, México, D.F.
Tel: 631 00 40, 6 81 81 25
Fax: 56 81 84 90
Lada sin costo: 01 800 00 869
correo@cndh.org.mx
------------------------------------------------
[PUBLISHER'S NOTICE: Normally, we ask our Subscribers not to violate our "copyright". In this case, we are specifically giving our permission to anyone who wishes to do so, to forward this article to anyone, or to post it on the Internet.]
From Stan Gotlieb - Oaxaca Study Group
Guelaguetza 2007
Monday, July 16, dawned overcast but dry and we headed for the Zócalo at about 9 a.m., to attend "The People's Guelaguetza", a free alternative to the commercial (400 pesos' admission) event that is scheduled for the following two Mondays. A large crowd had already started to form. There were at least six dance troupes forming up along with thousands of marchers, waiting for the signal to begin. Some of the dancers were taking the opportunity to warm up. The feeling was festive, peaceful, neighborly.
The signal was given. The march began. We were standing near the front of the parade, and heard one of the leaders shout "We are going to the hill" (the Guelaguetza amphitheater up on the Fortín hill). This was news to us, and presumably to many of the folks who were there, but nobody seemed confused or upset.
Originally, the "leadership" of the popular resistance had let it be known that, because of the heavy police / paramilitary / military presence on the Hill, the performances would take place at the much smaller Plaza de la Danza, downtown. According to other observers, that place was already quite full even as we were leaving the Zócalo, and dancing at the Plaza began while we were still walking up Garcia Vigíl.
My reading of the announcements put out before the 16th was that there would be a full-blown march up to the amphitheater; that if the march encountered official roadblocks there would be a peaceful demonstration; that the march would then resume, ending at the Plaza de la Danza. As far as I could tell, the marchers were following the script.
Diana and I walked along with the marchers. There was very little political chanting, virtually no signs or banners, and no graffiti painters that we saw – and we walked slowly enough so that by the time we were a little more than half way to Niños Heroes (the "International Highway" that marks the northern border of the "historical center"), the whole parade had passed us by.
We decided to cut over toward the amphitheater, and climbed the "escalera" (stairway) to the top, where we found the entrance to the tunnel that goes under the highway and ends at the amphitheater plaza was blocked by heavily armored state police. Like most of the people around us, we looked for an alternative entrance. Winding our way through an adjacent neighborhood, we noticed a lot of folks out on the streets. We stopped and asked what was going on. "Don't go to the Center", we were told, "they are tear-gassing the Zócalo."
We had been in the Zócalo earlier, and saw no police presence, no menacing situation, nor anything else that made any sense of what we had just heard. We continued downhill, coming out on Crespo, the easternmost of the north south streets that connect the center of town with Niños Heroes. Crespo was being blockaded by dissidents who warned us not to go uphill (toward where the marchers had gone), because there was a lot of tear gas. This was our first indication that something had gone wrong. We began to encounter small groups of folks who had either escaped the action or had arrived too late to be trapped by it. Mostly they were saying "let's go to the Plaza de la Danza", which I assume they did.
We made our way to the nearby house of some friends, to use the bathroom, have a glass of water, and exchange information. We got an eye-witness confirmation that the police and some young folks (but not all of them were young, we were admonished: several of the citizens were much older) were exchanging rocks and pieces of paving stones; that at least one bus was on fire; that there were many injuries on both sides; that the tear gas had driven staff and guests out of the Fortin Plaza and Victoria hotels.
Diana and I decided to walk back downtown, and see what was going on at the Plaza de la Danza. When we got back to Crespo, the barricade had moved down the hill a few blocks (as had the fighting). We kept going downhill toward the dancing.
When we arrived at the Plaza de la Danza, it was mobbed. We were barely able to maneuver, and getting close enough to actually see the dancers was too hard on our aging bodies, although because of my height I was able to catch a glimpse now and then. Everyone was in a very festive mood.
Caught in the crush around the Plaza, we ended up making our way slowly down the stairs, past the Nieverias (flavored ice stands) and Soledad church, exiting on Independencia. By the time we reached the Zócalo, we were ready to sit down and rest our weary feet, and have a look-see. Apparently, the rumors of police attack had reached the dozens of sidewalk vendors that we had seen there earlier, because just about all of them were gone. There were no police in sight.
The cops had continued to chase the demonstrators down the hill, all the way to the corner of Morelos and Tinoco y Palacios (the next street west of Crespo), where a good friend who happened to be going by got a snootfull of teargas. Whether or not the police would have continued to the performances, two blocks away, is not known, because - according to a very reliable witness - hundreds of citizens decided to sit down on Morelos and block any further police progress. I've no doubt that this action prevented scores of casualties that would have occurred had the police began lobbing tear gas into the densely packed crowd. The cops turned around, and the performances went off without a hitch. By this time, we were home.
As the day went on, we gathered more information from friends and the internet, and by Tuesday morning, a few things had become clear.
*The cops started it. Before the marchers were within shouting distance, tear gas canisters were flying through the air. There was no attempt whatsoever to defuse the situation. It is reasonable to infer that the police were acting to break up a legal demonstration and to frighten and harm as many dissidents as possible; that for the police it was a welcome chance to demonstrate their power and let off some steam.
*The crowd did not come prepared to fight. There were no Molotov cocktails, no rocket grenades; the rocks that were thrown came from the nearby sidewalks.
*The police were especially brutal, aiming for the head with their batons, kicking fallen marchers in the spine repeatedly, and sexually mauling female prisoners.
*Reporters and photographers were specially targeted. In one case, a high-ranking police official is said to have pointed out a particular cameraman and told his squad to "get him".
*People known to be leaders in civil society, who had not even been in the march, were rounded up as much as a mile away from the scene.
*Dozens of protesters "disappeared". Although relatives and friends and colleagues wrote down their names and the time of their detention, their names did not appear on any official lists. Most of the minors have been released. Reports persist of systematic torture and multiple rape, of all women and some men.
Monday night, we attended the premier showing of Jill Friedberg's latest film, "A Little Bit of So Much Truth", a chronology and analysis of the months of resistance and repression in 2006. It was shown on the plaza of the Cathedral. There was a pretty good crowd, in spite of the fact that it was drizzling. At one point, about four large open trucks full of "law enforcement" officers, fully outfitted to do battle, pulled up on Independencia, about a block away, for a couple of minutes. Several people got up and left, and while the troops were there I doubt that many in the crowd were watching the film. Nobody knows whether they might be next: snatched off the street while walking home from work or the grocery store without reason or warrant.
The level of tension, of anger, of division and rancor has risen. Positions are hardening. The APPO and the Teachers are determined to do what they can to scuttle the "official" celebration, and the governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) is determined that they will not do so. Last year, as a ploy to show how mean those dissidents are, URO cancelled the Guelaguetza (as if he had a choice: the APPO controlled the streets, and had already said "no way"; they held their own (at no charge) and drew over 20,000 people). This year, since hardly anybody is coming anyway (cancellations are said to have exceeded 50% since Monday's fiasco; and they were being put at a hopeful 50% of capacity before that - although the organization that supplied the figures is not necessarily reliable), URO would like to take the opportunity to ratchet up the anti-insurgency action, and the dissidents are just angry enough to challenge him.
For the battered tourist industry, there is little hope of good news any time soon. The head of the Hotel and Restaurant Association called the Monday fracas a "coup de gras" for tourism. Of course, there's no rule that a visit to Oaxaca during this period has to include attendance at the amphitheater. There are many Guelaguetzas being performed in outlying villages. They will be free and in some ways more authentic; and they are likely to be overseen by friendly and generous local folks committed to the comfort and enjoyment of visitors.
Things could get pretty ugly in the next couple of weeks. Some gringos are already talking about leaving town for a while. We just got back a few weeks ago, and we're not going anywhere. We still believe that Oaxaca is safe, although more caution must be exercised.
We will continue to monitor the situation as best we can without getting tear-gassed or beaten. We are not heroes, nor are we looking to be martyrs, so we will be careful.
Care, however, is the watchword. At the moment, Oaxaca is in the midst of another in what may prove to be a long series of convulsions. There will be periods of relative calm, interspersed with violence, as the armed elements of state repression battle desperately to hang on to the status quo in the face of massive civic unrest.
Thursday, July 19 2007 @ 07:30 AM PDT
Below is an URGENT call for international solidarity from the APPO here in Oaxaca. Please forward this call everywhere. Also below are links to just a few of the photos that I took of the Battle for Oaxaca and the intense repression we saw here on July 16, 2007.
The following is a repost from an anarchist comrade currently in Oaxaca.
Comrades,
Below is an URGENT call for international solidarity from the APPO here in Oaxaca. Please forward this call everywhere. Also below are links to just a few of the photos that I took of the Battle for Oaxaca and the intense repression we saw here on July 16, 2007.
It´s up to independent media to expose the truth about what has happened here in Oaxaca, against the lies of the corporate media. The images below chronicle the arc of the day´s unfolding - beginning with the dances and songs of the People´s Guelaguetza, through the the peaceful march, the police attack, and the battles in the streets.
Tonight we will be documenting the International Day Against Repression, remembering those imprisoned, disappeared, injured, and dead. Following, we will be posting a full report on all events that have transpired here in Oaxaca.
Images from the Frontlines of the Battle for Oaxaca:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88396.html
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88414.html
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88435.html
Oaxaca, July 16, 2007
URGENT ACTION--PLEASE SEND PETITION BELOW AND FORWARD WIDELY
NEW ESCALATION OF POLICE REPRESSION AGAINST THE POPULAR MOVEMENT IN OAXACA!
This past Monday, July 16, at approximately 11:30 a.m., elements of the Municipal Police, Preventive Police, and Industrial and Banking Police, attacked with tear gas and rocks, marchers of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and teachers of the National Teachers Workers Union, Section 22, who were trying to join the local festivities Fiesta Popular Oaxaqueña, in Guelaguetza Auditorium, Cerro del Fortín de la Ciudad de Oaxaca.
During this attack, several police brigades brutally beat the teachers and peaceful marchers, throwing tear gas against local commercial offices, private homes, and public buildings. Moreover, the violent escalation ended up in several wounded, included journalists from the Reforma, Noticias, Marca, and Tiempo newspapers, who were covering the brutal beatings imparted by the police. Although not yet officially confirmed, we would like to report 50 wounded, 45 people detained, and at least one dead.
These violent acts are marked by the State Government actions during Guelaguetza 2007, where areas of Cerro del Fortín were sealed off in which members of the Mexican Military Elite, the Preventative Federal Police, and the Federal Agency of Investigation participated. This operation was coordinated by the Secretaría de Protección Ciudadana, whose objective was to prevent the celebration organized by APPO and Section 22. Nevertheless, the Administration had declared days earlier their absolute respect for such peaceful celebration.
We consider that this incident is one of many provocations implemented by the state government against the APPO and is an irrefutable sign, moreover, of a government that is unable to dialogue, opting instead for the irrational use of police force against civilians. These actions are clear evidence of a recurring violation of human rights in the Oaxaca region, illegal under international treaties signed by Mexico.
Therefore, we make the following immediate demands:
• For an end to police represion, harrasment, and intimidation of the social and popular movements in Oaxaca
• We condenm governmental actions and indiscriminate use of force by the State and Federal police
• We demand the release of all political prisioners, making Federal and State officials responsible in the case of arbitrary detentions and disappearances of civilians.
Send your petitions to with copies to human rights entities:
Presidente FELIPE DE JESÚS CALDERÓN HINOJOSA
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, México DF
Tel: +52 (55) 27891100
Fax: +52 (55) 52772376
felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Licenciado Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña,
Secretario de Gobernación,
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,
Delegación Cuauhtémoc, México D.F., C.P. 06600, México,
Fax: +52 (55) 5093 3414
frjramirez@segob.gob.mx
Copies to:
Louise Arbour, Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos
Humanos, (High Commissioner for United Nations Human Rights Commission)
tb-petitions@ohchr.org, oacnudh@hchr.org.mx
Sr. Santiago Cantón
Secretario Ejecutivo
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, (Executive Secretary of the
Interamerican Human Rights Commission)
cidhoea@oas.org
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico Sur 3469, Col.
San Jerónimo Lídice,
10200, México, D.F.
Tel: 631 00 40, 6 81 81 25
Fax: 56 81 84 90
Lada sin costo: 01 800 00 869
correo@cndh.org.mx
(scroll down for another article in English)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Oaxaca de Juárez, 16 de Julio de 2007
ACCIÓN URGENTE
¡NUEVA ESCALADA DE REPRESIÓN POLICIACA
CONTRA MOVIMIENTO POPULAR EN OAXACA!
Este lunes 16 de julio, aproximadamente a las 11:30 a.m., elementos de la
Policía Municipal, Policía Preventiva y Policía Bancaria e Industrial
enfrentaron, con bombas de gas lacrimógeno y piedras, a manifestantes de la
Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca y maestros de las Sección XXII del
Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación que intentaron subir al
Auditorio Guelaguetza, localizado en el Cerro del Fortín de la Ciudad de
Oaxaca, como parte de los festejos de la Fiesta Popular de los oaxaqueños.
En este enfrentamiento, los diversos cuerpos policíacos golpearon
brutalmente a maestros y manifestantes, además lanzaron bombas de gas
lacrimógeno en contra de establecimientos comerciales, casas particulares y
edificios públicos. Así mismo, en la escalada violenta resultaron lesionados
reporteros gráficos de los periódicos Reforma, Noticias, Marca y Tiempo,
quienes daban cobertura a la feroz golpiza de la policía a los
manifestantes. Extraoficialmente se menciona la detención de 45 personas, 50
heridos y por lo menos un muerto.
Estos hechos violentos se enmarcan en el dispositivo implementado por el
Gobierno Estatal denominado "Guelaguetza 2007", mediante el cual se acordonó
el Cerro del Fortín y en el cual participan elementos de Elite del Ejército
Mexicano, Policía Federal Preventiva, Agencia Federal de Investigaciones,
Policía Preventiva y Policía Municipal de Oaxaca. Este operativo coordinado
por la Secretaría de Protección Ciudadana tenía el objetivo de impedir la
celebración de la Guelaguetza Popular por parte de la APPO y la Sección XXII
en dicho inmueble, no obstante que el Gobierno del Estado declaró días antes
su respeto absoluto a esta celebración.
Consideramos que este hecho se suma a las provocaciones implementadas por el
Gobierno Estatal en contra de la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca y
además es un signo ominoso de un Gobierno que ante la incapacidad del
diálogo recurre una vez más al uso irracional de la Fuerza Pública. Estas
acciones son envidencia de la recurrented violación de derechos humanos en
Oaxaca, ilegales bajo tratados internacionales firmados por el Estado de
México.
Por todo lo anterior solicitamos se pronuncien por lo siguiente:
• Por el cese a la represión policíaca y hostigamiento al Movimiento
Social y Popular de Oaxaca.
• Reprobamos la acción gubernamental en cuanto al uso indiscriminado de
la Fuerza Pública Estatal y Federal.
• Demandamos la libertad de todo prisionero político, responsabilizando
al Gobierno Estatal y Federal en caso de llegarse a registrar detenciones
arbitrarias o desapariciones en contra de los manifestantes.
Mandar comunicaciones a:
Presidente FELIPE DE JESÚS CALDERÓN HINOJOSA
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, México DF
Tel: +52 (55) 27891100
Fax: +52 (55) 52772376
felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Licenciado Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña,
Secretario de Gobernación,
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,
Delegación Cuauhtémoc, México D.F., C.P. 06600, México,
Fax: +52 (55) 5093 3414
frjramirez@segob.gob.mx
Copias a:
Louise Arbour, Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos
Humanos, (High Commissioner for United Nations Human Rights Commission)
tb-petitions@ohchr.org, oacnudh@hchr.org.mx
Sr. Santiago Cantón
Secretario Ejecutivo
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, (Executive Secretary of the
Interamerican Human Rights Commission)
cidhoea@oas.org
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico Sur 3469, Col.
San Jerónimo Lídice,
10200, México, D.F.
Tel: 631 00 40, 6 81 81 25
Fax: 56 81 84 90
Lada sin costo: 01 800 00 869
correo@cndh.org.mx
------------------------------------------------
[PUBLISHER'S NOTICE: Normally, we ask our Subscribers not to violate our "copyright". In this case, we are specifically giving our permission to anyone who wishes to do so, to forward this article to anyone, or to post it on the Internet.]
From Stan Gotlieb - Oaxaca Study Group
Guelaguetza 2007
Monday, July 16, dawned overcast but dry and we headed for the Zócalo at about 9 a.m., to attend "The People's Guelaguetza", a free alternative to the commercial (400 pesos' admission) event that is scheduled for the following two Mondays. A large crowd had already started to form. There were at least six dance troupes forming up along with thousands of marchers, waiting for the signal to begin. Some of the dancers were taking the opportunity to warm up. The feeling was festive, peaceful, neighborly.
The signal was given. The march began. We were standing near the front of the parade, and heard one of the leaders shout "We are going to the hill" (the Guelaguetza amphitheater up on the Fortín hill). This was news to us, and presumably to many of the folks who were there, but nobody seemed confused or upset.
Originally, the "leadership" of the popular resistance had let it be known that, because of the heavy police / paramilitary / military presence on the Hill, the performances would take place at the much smaller Plaza de la Danza, downtown. According to other observers, that place was already quite full even as we were leaving the Zócalo, and dancing at the Plaza began while we were still walking up Garcia Vigíl.
My reading of the announcements put out before the 16th was that there would be a full-blown march up to the amphitheater; that if the march encountered official roadblocks there would be a peaceful demonstration; that the march would then resume, ending at the Plaza de la Danza. As far as I could tell, the marchers were following the script.
Diana and I walked along with the marchers. There was very little political chanting, virtually no signs or banners, and no graffiti painters that we saw – and we walked slowly enough so that by the time we were a little more than half way to Niños Heroes (the "International Highway" that marks the northern border of the "historical center"), the whole parade had passed us by.
We decided to cut over toward the amphitheater, and climbed the "escalera" (stairway) to the top, where we found the entrance to the tunnel that goes under the highway and ends at the amphitheater plaza was blocked by heavily armored state police. Like most of the people around us, we looked for an alternative entrance. Winding our way through an adjacent neighborhood, we noticed a lot of folks out on the streets. We stopped and asked what was going on. "Don't go to the Center", we were told, "they are tear-gassing the Zócalo."
We had been in the Zócalo earlier, and saw no police presence, no menacing situation, nor anything else that made any sense of what we had just heard. We continued downhill, coming out on Crespo, the easternmost of the north south streets that connect the center of town with Niños Heroes. Crespo was being blockaded by dissidents who warned us not to go uphill (toward where the marchers had gone), because there was a lot of tear gas. This was our first indication that something had gone wrong. We began to encounter small groups of folks who had either escaped the action or had arrived too late to be trapped by it. Mostly they were saying "let's go to the Plaza de la Danza", which I assume they did.
We made our way to the nearby house of some friends, to use the bathroom, have a glass of water, and exchange information. We got an eye-witness confirmation that the police and some young folks (but not all of them were young, we were admonished: several of the citizens were much older) were exchanging rocks and pieces of paving stones; that at least one bus was on fire; that there were many injuries on both sides; that the tear gas had driven staff and guests out of the Fortin Plaza and Victoria hotels.
Diana and I decided to walk back downtown, and see what was going on at the Plaza de la Danza. When we got back to Crespo, the barricade had moved down the hill a few blocks (as had the fighting). We kept going downhill toward the dancing.
When we arrived at the Plaza de la Danza, it was mobbed. We were barely able to maneuver, and getting close enough to actually see the dancers was too hard on our aging bodies, although because of my height I was able to catch a glimpse now and then. Everyone was in a very festive mood.
Caught in the crush around the Plaza, we ended up making our way slowly down the stairs, past the Nieverias (flavored ice stands) and Soledad church, exiting on Independencia. By the time we reached the Zócalo, we were ready to sit down and rest our weary feet, and have a look-see. Apparently, the rumors of police attack had reached the dozens of sidewalk vendors that we had seen there earlier, because just about all of them were gone. There were no police in sight.
The cops had continued to chase the demonstrators down the hill, all the way to the corner of Morelos and Tinoco y Palacios (the next street west of Crespo), where a good friend who happened to be going by got a snootfull of teargas. Whether or not the police would have continued to the performances, two blocks away, is not known, because - according to a very reliable witness - hundreds of citizens decided to sit down on Morelos and block any further police progress. I've no doubt that this action prevented scores of casualties that would have occurred had the police began lobbing tear gas into the densely packed crowd. The cops turned around, and the performances went off without a hitch. By this time, we were home.
As the day went on, we gathered more information from friends and the internet, and by Tuesday morning, a few things had become clear.
*The cops started it. Before the marchers were within shouting distance, tear gas canisters were flying through the air. There was no attempt whatsoever to defuse the situation. It is reasonable to infer that the police were acting to break up a legal demonstration and to frighten and harm as many dissidents as possible; that for the police it was a welcome chance to demonstrate their power and let off some steam.
*The crowd did not come prepared to fight. There were no Molotov cocktails, no rocket grenades; the rocks that were thrown came from the nearby sidewalks.
*The police were especially brutal, aiming for the head with their batons, kicking fallen marchers in the spine repeatedly, and sexually mauling female prisoners.
*Reporters and photographers were specially targeted. In one case, a high-ranking police official is said to have pointed out a particular cameraman and told his squad to "get him".
*People known to be leaders in civil society, who had not even been in the march, were rounded up as much as a mile away from the scene.
*Dozens of protesters "disappeared". Although relatives and friends and colleagues wrote down their names and the time of their detention, their names did not appear on any official lists. Most of the minors have been released. Reports persist of systematic torture and multiple rape, of all women and some men.
Monday night, we attended the premier showing of Jill Friedberg's latest film, "A Little Bit of So Much Truth", a chronology and analysis of the months of resistance and repression in 2006. It was shown on the plaza of the Cathedral. There was a pretty good crowd, in spite of the fact that it was drizzling. At one point, about four large open trucks full of "law enforcement" officers, fully outfitted to do battle, pulled up on Independencia, about a block away, for a couple of minutes. Several people got up and left, and while the troops were there I doubt that many in the crowd were watching the film. Nobody knows whether they might be next: snatched off the street while walking home from work or the grocery store without reason or warrant.
The level of tension, of anger, of division and rancor has risen. Positions are hardening. The APPO and the Teachers are determined to do what they can to scuttle the "official" celebration, and the governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) is determined that they will not do so. Last year, as a ploy to show how mean those dissidents are, URO cancelled the Guelaguetza (as if he had a choice: the APPO controlled the streets, and had already said "no way"; they held their own (at no charge) and drew over 20,000 people). This year, since hardly anybody is coming anyway (cancellations are said to have exceeded 50% since Monday's fiasco; and they were being put at a hopeful 50% of capacity before that - although the organization that supplied the figures is not necessarily reliable), URO would like to take the opportunity to ratchet up the anti-insurgency action, and the dissidents are just angry enough to challenge him.
For the battered tourist industry, there is little hope of good news any time soon. The head of the Hotel and Restaurant Association called the Monday fracas a "coup de gras" for tourism. Of course, there's no rule that a visit to Oaxaca during this period has to include attendance at the amphitheater. There are many Guelaguetzas being performed in outlying villages. They will be free and in some ways more authentic; and they are likely to be overseen by friendly and generous local folks committed to the comfort and enjoyment of visitors.
Things could get pretty ugly in the next couple of weeks. Some gringos are already talking about leaving town for a while. We just got back a few weeks ago, and we're not going anywhere. We still believe that Oaxaca is safe, although more caution must be exercised.
We will continue to monitor the situation as best we can without getting tear-gassed or beaten. We are not heroes, nor are we looking to be martyrs, so we will be careful.
Care, however, is the watchword. At the moment, Oaxaca is in the midst of another in what may prove to be a long series of convulsions. There will be periods of relative calm, interspersed with violence, as the armed elements of state repression battle desperately to hang on to the status quo in the face of massive civic unrest.
posted by Lorna Dee Cervantes at 6:13 AM
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