violent represion in oaxaca

north america / mexico | repression / prisoners | non-anarchist press Thursday June 15, 2006 07:14 by coyote - WSA

To the peoples of the world
To the people of Mexico
To the civil society
To the social political, and humans rights organizations,

Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, June 14 of 2006

Today, June 14, 2006, on of the most abhorrent manifestations of the exercise of power on behalf of the government has been perpetrated in Mexico. At 4:40 a.m., an act of repression against the social movement in Oaxaca began. At dawn today, state government police forces brutally and violently evacuated teachers who were occupying streets and the central square of downtown Oaxaca. We are speaking of more than fifty thousand teachers.

They also beat other people and destroyed the radio equipment of Radio Plantón, 92,1 F.M., a wireless station that is been continuously transmitting the situation of the teachers movement. This community radio, which has been operating for a year, has played an important role in the transmission of clear and transparent information as it occurs in Oaxaca and our country.

This act is yet another piece of evidence of the repression that governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz has orchestrated against those who disagree with policies that violate human rights and those who stand up to denounce social injustice and the state of siege lived in today.
There are disappeared teachers, people hurt and intoxicated with tear gases, apprehensions, and domiciliary persecutions. Also mentioned are the death of two children and at least three teachers. After five hours of skirmish, the teachers began to re-occupy the central square while "the forces of the order" regroup in other places of the city to reinitiate the aggression.

The city´s inhabitants are very disturbed and have begun to organize in support of the teachers. Similarly, social organizations are pronouncing themselves against the repression.

On the other hand, governmental and commercial media, both radio and television, try to cause the social irritation against the teachers. Due to the destruction of Radio Plantón, groups of students and teachers took over Radio Universidad, the station of the Independent University Benito Juárez of Oaxaca, and are transmitting minute by minute what is happening in the streets of the city. In addition, the University has announced its total support to the teachers, declaring that this conflict has taken on a widespread social character and
invites the society in general to join the movement.

The main demands of the teachers are: adjustment of wages according to the cost of the life in Oaxaca; strengthening of support programs to the schools, mainly regarding infrastructure; allowance of equipment and diverse educational materials to students who live in the municipalities of greater marginalization; finally, an end to repression against education workers; clarification on cases of the disappeared; and the liberation of the political prisoners.

Currently, social discontent and mobilization increase. In the face of this barbaric repression, more protests have sparked:10 Municipal Presidencies have been taken over, among which are Juchitán, Zimatlán, Huautla de Jiménez, Teotitlán de Flores Magón, Matías Romero, Huajuapan of Leon, Port Angel and Puerto Escondido. Farmers are marching in from Tuxtepec. Inhabitants of San Salvador Atenco make their way towards the State Capital. The future seems uncertain, but hope grows.

For this reason, the teacher´s movement, social organizations, and a great number of inhabitants of the city hold the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz responsible of the chaos and the violence currently affecting the most indigenous state of the country.

Finally, while a mega-march is being planned for next Friday, the government has sent orders of apprehension to the leadership. We hope to count on your support, and request the most ample circulation of this information.


Images: http://mexico.indymedia.org/tiki-browse_gallery.php?galleryId=43