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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2006 
Shots Fired in Oaxacan Stalemate
 Adriana Barrera - Reuters
| | Striking teachers and members of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) hold an image of Mexican statesman Benito Juarez as they walk into the town of Tehuitzingo in the state of Puebla during their march from Oaxaca to Mexico City September 29, 2006. Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Friday near a road block set up by striking teachers in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca, where months of protests against the state governor have scared off tourists. (Reuters/Stringer) |
Oaxaca, Mexico - Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Friday near a road block set up by striking teachers in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca, where months of protests against the state governor have scared off tourists.
A Reuters witness heard at least ten shots fired before sun-up close to a barricade in the graceful center of the city, the capital of Oaxaca state in southern Mexico. No one was injured.
The streets around the center have been occupied by months by thousands of striking teachers and left-wing activists trying to bring down the state government, headed by Gov. Ulises Ruiz.
Ambushes and drive-by shootings similar to Friday's attack have plagued the protests and five activists have been shot dead since the conflict began.
"We are peaceful, unarmed people, and we were the target of this aggression," said Angel, a teacher manning a roadblock close to the site of Friday's gunshots.
Ruiz, who his opponents say ordered the shootings, refuses to resign and wants federal police to end the protests, which have left elegant buildings daubed with graffiti and devastated the local tourist industry, normally one of the city's main sources of income.
Oaxaca state, famed for beaches, highland towns and elaborate cuisine, is also one of Mexico's most impoverished regions and tensions often run high between its poor Indian population and authorities.
President Vicente Fox has promised to resolve the conflict before leaving office at the end of November but federal government-brokered talks between the protesters and Ruiz have so far failed to end the stalemate.
Ruiz is from the Institutional Revolutionary Party which ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000.
More than 1,000 anti-governor protesters marching the 270 miles (430 km) from Oaxaca to Mexico City are expected to arrive over the weekend. They hope to meet with government negotiators.
Fox says he has not ruled out the use of force to recapture the town if talks fail.
Restaurants, hotels and stores hard hit by the exodus of tourists and have been closed since Thursday in a two-day shut-down designed to pressure authorities to resolve the crisis.
The protests started with a teachers' strike over wages and against the governor, who they accuse of corruption and say has polarized the state by using heavy handed policing to resolve political disputes.
The teachers refuse to return to classes despite being threatened with the loss of their jobs. |
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