In Aftermath of Last Year's Unrest, Oaxaca Still Struggles

[struggle4progress]

David Agren
17 May 2007

~snip~ The Oaxaca teachers have struck annually for more than 20 consecutive years. Last year, however, was different. After making their demands in May, the teachers set up a protest camp in the Zocalo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular gathering spot for locals and tourists alike. When Governor Ulises Ruiz -- a man accused of stealing the 2004 state election -- ordered a heavy-handed crack down in mid June, a group of leftist sympathizers dubbed the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, or APPO, jumped into the fray, calling for Ruiz's head. After months of unrest and the death of an American activist/journalist, the federal police moved in and subsequently arrested more than 100 APPO members, many of whom were jailed in far away Nayarit state. (Human rights abuses have been alleged.) ~snip~

You used to go to the Zocalo, have a coffee and complain about the government," said Hugo Stewart, an Oaxaca artist, who published a pro-APPO newspaper during the conflict.

"Now you watch what you say and where you say it . . . you're paranoid about who's listening." ~snip~

"This is about ending 75 years of corruption," <Marietta Bernstorff> said.

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=782