On Saturday, November 25th, just one week before the end of the tour of the Comisión Sexta (the Sixth Commission of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation) around Mexico (as part of the activities of La Otra Campaña [The Other Campaign]) and a week away from the taking of office of the new president of Mexico, the city of Oaxaca was the site of the seventh mega-march for the removal from office of the governor of the state, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, the liberation of all political prisoners who had been jailed as a result of the Oaxacan movement, the safe delivery of all the missing members of the movement, and the immediate departure of the Preventive Federal Police, the “PFP,” from the state.
The seventh mega-march, organized to demand the removal of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, began at 10:00 a.m. in Santa María Coyotepec with a route planned to end at the central plaza or Zócalo of Oaxaca City where a 48 hour human wall was to be formed around the police troops that were posted there.
Since the beginning of the march, several hundred members of the federal police had been keeping watch from the rooftops of houses and shops. The riot control vehicles were ready to respond in many of the streets leading to the Zócalo. Other police brigades were spotted connecting cables to the power lines, apparently to electrify their barricades. The police blockades delayed the arrival of several contingents to the march.
Around 10:30 a.m. the march had begun, headed by municipal and traditional authorities and family members of all the political prisoners and others missing for political reasons. There were also delegations of teachers and administrative workers, students and members of different social organizations attending the march. The people at the march formed and maintained security lines and in this way the march went on for 8 km without any problems. By 11:00 a.m., there were reports of around 3,000 people marching. At the same time, the federal police had blocked each entrance to the Zócalo with barbed wire, two riot control vehicles and a garbage container. Everyone at the march was staying alert in case of more attempts of illegal detentions since on the previous day, Friday, November the 24th, paramilitary elements had “arrested” the spokesman of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), Cesar Mateos Benítez and one of APPO’s councillors, Jorge Luis Sosa Campos. Also, on Novemeber 21st, Ricardo Osorio Bolaños, known as “El Cholo,” and Pedro César Cornejo Ramos, “El Conejo” were kidnapped and tortured by agents of federal and state police around one of the barricades set by the APPO at the site known as Cinco Señores, and were later taken to a prison in Tlacolula, Oaxaca.
Throughout the march, Radio Universidad, the radio station of the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca used by the APPO, reported that there were elements of the federal police dressed as civilians, trying to join the march. In the meantime, heads of the federal police sent to Oaxaca declared on commercial media that there were at least 200 members of the state police of Oaxaca out of control and that they were responsible for the temporary detentions of members of the APPO.
People outside Oaxaca also organized activities supporting the seventh mega-march. In Mexico City, members of sections 9, 10, 11 and 36 of the teachers union and other organizations who support the demands of the APPO like the Unión Popular Revolucionaria Emiliano Zapata, took over the toll booths of the Mexico-Puebla and Mexico-Cuernavaca highways, allowing all the vehicles to go by without paying the fee.
At 2:30 p.m., reports indicated that there were around 50,000 people marching and tension grew as the march approached the Zócalo. By 3:00 p.m., the march was closing in on the police blockades but no confrontations had been reported yet. At 4:00 p.m. the first sounds of cuetones (homemade fireworks used as weapons of resistance) exploding were heard and groups of people associated with the governor’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) were reported to be moving in the area.
The federal police began attacking participants in the demonstration around the Zócalo without any previous provocation and started shooting tear gas at the marching crowd. Moments later, there were reports of confrontations and a lot of gas being shot from rooftops and streets, along the promenade which runs from the Zócalo to the Santo Domingo convent along Alcalá street. One person had been wounded with a gas projectile and the bells of Santo Domingo were ringing. Not only did the police continue shooting gas once the air was barely breathable, but they pointed the projectiles at the people. Radio Universidad requested urgent donations of food, vinegar and soft drinks and called the people out to the Zócalo to support those at the demonstration, they also asked all those who were leaving the Zócalo to stay put and help the people who were standing up to the police. Some police elements were spotted shooting gas from the roof of the San Felipe Neri church; meanwhile, the people responded to the attacks of the police with rocks and cuetones. The federal police kept trying to expel all the people from the Zócalo. The gas covered the whole eastern side of the city, and supporters of the PRI, were throwing marbles at the protesters from rooftops. Confrontations between the police and the people of Oaxaca grew more intense throughout the whole downtown district of the city; two buildings were on fire on 5 de Mayo street and the federal police advanced along streets parallel to Aldama. The federal police received continuous reinforcements and tried to surround the protesters in the Zócalo but they advanced very slowly because their attacks were being repelled by a very organized resistance. The repressive actions of the police took place in 14 of the streets that lead to the Zócalo. There were many people suffering the effects of the gases and many took refuge in the Camino Real hotel to escape the intoxication. The public transportation system was suspended in the whole city. As time passed and sunlight began to fade, confrontations had gotten worse and the federal police was using the water guns from the riot control vehicles to try and disperse the people. Visibility was practically cero around the Zócalo because of the hour and the combination of gas and smoke from the fires; at this point, the people retreated back to the Santo Domingo convent in order to regroup and reorganize and the police had advanced several streets towards the convent. Radio Universidad reported that this was the worst repressive event yet seen in Oaxaca and a group of people set a first line of resistance to try and stop the advance of the police. While the battle kept getting worse, Flavio Sosa, one of the delegates of the APPO, declared that the situation was uncontrollable and his efforts to try and make the people retreat were responded to with shouts and even accusations while several 9 mm bullet shells that had been found in the streets were presented by the people, suggesting that the police were not only using gases and water. Radio Universidad, “the voice of the truth” reported that several buses full of federal police elements were seen moving towards the city of Oaxaca. At about 6:00 p.m. in Mexico City, supporters of the APPO blocked an important street called Eje Central as a way to protest the police brutality taking place in Oaxaca City.
Once in Santo Domingo, the police sprayed with gasoline and burned the camp of the APPO that had been set up there, as they had done months earlier to a similar camp set up in the Zócalo. Throughout these events, the police kept shooting gas, several people had been reported wounded and confrontations continued at several points in the city, like around the 20 de Noviembre market. In Santo Domingo, the situation became particularly tense as the anti-riot police closed in on the convent, shooting gas continuously. Despite the attempts of the people to escape the violence and detentions, the number of people wounded by clubbing and gas projectile impacts increased. The people responded by setting barricades with trucks and buses. Members of the APPO set up a barricade in the area of the Seguro Social (Social Security offices) and people there were ready to repel the police attacks with rocks, cuetones and gasoline, trying to support those who continues resisting in Santo Domingo. Advancing with their clubs and gas leading the way, the police finally took over the Santo Domingo area. In the meantime, the Federal Office Building, which is located in an area outside of the route of the protest, was set on fire. Members of the APPO declared that this was done by people of the PRI, to try and inculpate the APPO. Several other buildings were burned or damaged, including the Foreign Relations building, the Public Registry of Property building, the School of Psychology at the University and the building of the Mexican Association of Hotels and Motels in Oaxaca.
With no report of the number of people wounded or arrested, it was confirmed that the federal police took over the atrium of Santo Domingo using guns, riot control vehicles and 20 trucks. The APPO called for everyone to pull back. The churches of the center of Oaxaca were all locked shut, thereby proving where the interests of the Church lay, since people were not allowed to take refuge in them. During the night, the police broke into houses and one group dressed as civilians attacked the ADO bus station. It was rumoured that supporters of the governor had infiltrated the Seguro Social public hospital, dressed as doctors.
At about 11:00 p.m., statements of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz implied that the APPO was crumbling and that the confrontation was a sign of their desperate situation. According to the governor, the seventh mega march had had a very low participation, way under the expectations of the teachers and other supporters of the movement. He also denied that anyone had been seriously wounded or killed in the confrontations and declared that all the participants would be arrested, including all the nearly 200 members of the State Council of the APPO.
The battle was still going on in the wee hours of Sunday and Radio Universidad was already broadcasting long lists of people whose whereabouts were unknown, testimonies of people who had been attacked by the police and even of people who had been witnesses to murders. It was also inviting people to join the activities that would take place in the next few days around the country and the globe to condemn the massacre in Oaxaca. All this took place under a constant threat of the police trying to break into the University where the radio station was located, with helicopters constantly flying over and around it.
The repressive actions of the government in Oaxaca resulted in 3 people dead, at least 100 people arrested, about 140 people wounded, between 30 and 50 people missing, and combats in at least 17 points of the city.
That same Sunday in Mexico City, people blocked streets in the downtown area and organized a march in support of the APPO. Oaxaca is not alone.
This chronicle was made thanks to the reports of the people from lahaine.org. If you want more information you can consult www.lahaine.org and www.mexico.indymedia.org.. We invite you to continue listening to our reports on Oaxaca throughout our programming. You are listening to La Kehuelga Radio at 102.9 f.m. and at www.kehuelga.org on internet.
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