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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | November 2006 
Oaxacan Fasters End Hunger Strike
 Kelly Arthur Garrett - The Herald Mexico
| | A teacher from Oaxaca shouts as she passes Federal police officers (PFP) in Oaxaca's main plaza November 6, 2006. (Henry Romero/Reuters) |
After 509 hours without food, 17 Oaxacans bowed to pleas from fellow activists Monday and called off their hunger strike as of 5:11 p.m.
The fasters, most having walked to Mexico City from Oaxaca before starting their hunger strike on October 16, had vowed to forego any food until Ulises Ruiz was removed as governor of their state.
But Ruiz has refused to heed any calls for him to step down, including some from his own party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
By last week, four hunger strikers were forced to abandon the effort as their health declined to dangerous levels. Then expressions of concern about the mental and physical condition of the remaining strikers began coming in from key members of the Oaxaca popular movement, including from the leadership of the Oaxaca People´s Assembly (APPO) that has been organizing the protest since June.
"I think this hunger strike has to end now," said Samuel Ruiz, the retired archbishop who has often aligned himself with popular causes and has tried to act as mediator in the Oaxaca dispute.
Ruiz´s sentiments were echoed by scores of other groups and individuals allied with the Oaxaca protest. The messages were read aloud to a gathering of supporters and journalists in front of the Benito Juárez monument in the capital´s center, where the announcement of the strike´s end was made Monday afternoon.
In a prepared joint statement, the hunger strikers said that events since they began their fast showed that "the state and federal governments are violent, but we´re not."
The statement went on, "We meant it when we said we would not eat until Ulises Ruiz was no longer governor. But we have to listen to the voices of our brothers and sisters."
The 17 will have to be monitored closely and brought along slowly as they begin their "dietary recovery," said Morse García, a physician who has led the medical staff attending the hunger strikers for three weeks.
María del Carmen Altamirano, one of the former fasters, said she and the others would continue their vigil at the Benito Juárez monument as long as Ruiz stays in power.
"We´ll turn from being strikers to occupiers," she said. |
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