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 Health & Beauty | October 2006 
Oaxaca Hunger Strikers Face Health Risks
 Kelly Arthur Garrett - The Herald Mexico
| | A woman stands next to a barricade set up by teachers on strike and the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, APPO in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico on Friday Oct. 27, 2006. On Friday, the assembly which has promised to continue the effort to oust the governor plans to blockade highways, beef up barricades and boycott commercial centers. Teachers in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca voted Thursday to end a five-month-old strike that has kept 1.3 million children out of classes, potentially taking the sting out of anti-government protests besieging this historic city. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
When Oaxaca school teacher Crucita Ramírez agreed to an interview two hours into her hunger strike back on Oct. 16, her condition was animated, her rhetoric rapid-fire, and her anger at Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz palpable.
On Wednesday, after nine days without food, the teacher´s gait was noticeably more strained as she rose from the tent floor in front of Mexico City´s Benito Juárez monument where she and 20 other Oaxaca hunger strikers spend the better part of their day prone and mostly motionless.
Though her face was paler and her speech more deliberate, her eyes still darted under a black cloth headband when she spoke of Ruiz, who refused to negotiate with striking teachers last spring, instead deploying state troops on June 14 in a failed attempt to break up their encampments in Oaxaca City´s Historic Center.
Since then, the teachers have joined forces with the Oaxaca People´s Assembly (APPO) - a coalition of state activist groups to which many teachers also belong. They are demanding the removal from power of Ruiz, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that has governed the state for more than 70 years.
"We will stay here until he falls," Ramírez said. "The people of Oaxaca are witnesses to his crimes. He will never be forgiven."
CRITICAL STAGE
Ramírez, like the other hunger strikers, won´t talk much about her own condition. "I´m okay," she said. "Just a little weak."
But Morse Cornelio García López, a physician for the Oaxaca school system who is monitoring the fasting peoples´ health, said Ramírez and the others have entered a critical stage of their ordeal.
"From this point on, it´s essential that they maintain adequate liquid levels," he said. "They´re getting no protein at all, and that complicates organ function. They can suffer irreversible damage."
Adding to the organ danger, García López said, is the kidney damage suffered by many of the hunger strikers who participated in the 540-kilometer, 19-day march from Oaxaca to Mexico City.
"The constant pounding on the hard highway surface stressed their kidneys," he said.
Another problem is dropping blood-sugar levels. Ramírez is not yet in danger, her blood sugar reading still above 80. But some have dropped much lower, in one case down to 64, running a risk of coma if they drop further.
"We have to monitor them closely," Dr. García said. "Right now we´re stabilizing them with liquid sugar solutions."
The hunger strikers are weighing the idea of discontinuing even sugar and water if Ruiz is not out of office by Friday, a deadline set by APPO Monday night.
They say they would phase in waterless periods of 12 hours, before permanently refusing to drink.
If it comes to that, a human being cannot survive without water for many days. That could put Dr. García in an uncomfortable position between his duty to save lives and his commitment to the rights of the protesters.
"I will do everything that a medical practitioner must do for a human being," he said. "What I can´t do is change their intentions, or force them to eat. That decision is personal."
García´s position is consistent with World Medical Association declarations made in 1975 and 1991, though they dealt with the issue of hunger strikers in prison. "Heeding the informed consent of a hunger striker ... is certainly part of the doctor´s duty in looking after the patient´s welfare."
CONVICTION EVIDENT
Dr. García is convinced that the Oaxaca protesters have the conviction to hang on. "The determination is there," he said. "When you start a hunger strike, you start it with the firm conviction of carrying it out to the end."
Most of the hunger strikers have been away from home for at least a month. Ramírez has a 14-year-old daughter back in Oaxaca, caring for her 77-year-old mother who fell ill after the June 14 crackdown.
"They don´t know I´m on a hunger strike," Ramírez said. "By doctor´s orders, my mother is not allowed to read newspapers or watch news on television."
On Thursday, now without the headband, Ramírez admitted she was probably feeling weaker than the other fasting protesters.
"I was sleeping on the ground every night for four months at the barricades when I was still in Oaxaca," she said. "It gets to you after a while."
On Thursday afternoon, the strikers hugged each other in celebration after a false report that the teachers union delegates in Oaxaca City had voted not to end the walkout. The actual vote outcome was to return to school, but hunger striker María del Carmen Altamirano said it didn´t matter.
"Regardless of what the state assembly decides, we have a commitment to the people of Oaxaca," she said. "We won´t give in until the tyrant (Gov. Ruiz) is gone."
MARIACHI WELL-WISHERS
Ramírez said she and the other hunger strikers have gathered strength from well-wishers who stop by to offer support. "There hasn´t been one night when we haven´t had mariachis here playing for us," she said. "They come around 10 or 11 every night."
The protest site outside the Alameda Park in Mexico City´s Historic Center was virtually devoid of visitors last week, but on Wednesday crowds of people were gathering around. They were not allowed to approach the fasting protesters.
On Tuesday night, Ramírez said, somebody serenaded them with "Mujer Oaxaqueña," a traditional local favorite by the Oaxacan Rodolfo Villegas.
"It made us all very happy because it reminded us of so much," she said. "We never saw the face of the woman, but she sang beautifully." |
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