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Two more Oaxacan deaths =5 + life report
(MM) -> Kate Sherman - 30.10.2006 19:01
Three deaths and three abductions of teachers were reported Friday, and at least two more people have died today, one a 34 year old Nurse from the Social Security hospital IMSS and a 12 year old child.
A life report from Oaxacan Kate Sherman.
New report on OSAG site:
Nancy, here is a copy of my latest post. The APPO website said the child who died was 12 years old, but maybe that was a different death.
Dear Family and Friends,
My ability to send you level-headed news reports has come to an end. I find myself in this moment overcome with rage in one of the first moments of silence all day. The morning and afternoon were filled with the sounds of helicopters, at first flying high in scouting mode and then flying low in attack mode, over all parts of the city. What is happening here right now is far beyond an outrage. I just got word that the federal police have shot to death a 12 year old boy. He is the third child to die in this fight. A child for #$$%&! sake!
Friday was a day of action in which hundreds of barricades were temporarily erected and essentially shut the city down. In Sta. Lucia/Calicanto, the US journalist was killed and in other areas 2 others were killed. In Santa Maria Coyotepec and neighboring San Bartolo Coyotepec (famous for its black pottery) the municipal president of, I believe San Bartolo, organized PRI supporters in the town to attack the teacherīs camp with machetes and other weapons. Several people were hurt, the peaceful encampment was torched and the members of the movement were sent running out of town. Saturday I had to travel to Fraccionamiento Reyes Mantecon, a community pertaining to, but just outside of San Bartolo that is mostly inhabited by teachers and their families. To arrive, I had to take three taxis and walk through three barricades, each 1/4 to 1/2 a mile long. On one of the barricades, a group of perhaps thirty men armed with machetes approached me, one of them poking the air with his machete and gruffly ordered me to "keep walking for my own safety." I could not return to the city and spent the night in Reyes Mantecon. This morning, suprisingly, all the barricades had been removed from the highway and the taxi arrived in town.
Immediately in the morning today, Sunday October 29, we began hearing about groups of armed vigilantes, government sympathizers, who were driving around in various vehicles shooting at people. Then, we began to hear that the PFP had arrived in force and they were starting to move. The night before I had sat on a hill in Reyes watching sun go down and the clouds disperse to reveal the clear stars and beautiful moon. Then, I noticed several large airplanes land in succession, something strange for the Oaxaca airport, which usually has about one commercial plane an hour, if that. This morning I found out that the federal police have taken over the airport, shut it down and converted it into a military base. This morning they had huge troop carriers land. Report is that at this moment the officers number in the thousands. I thought about the gorgeous night sky and that those planes I saw landing were bringing blood and death. During the day, there was a large march that arrived in the afternoon in the Zocalo to find several vehicles burning, pouring thick black smoke into the air in defense of the barricades there. The PFP were in masse, readying themselves for confrontation with protesters. At this point, I left the center of the city and I have only the reports of other witnesses to provide. This morning, the police were stealing water from the town of Tlacolula to supply tanks with water canons that they planned to use against protesters this afternoon. All afternoon, the black smoke was seen rising from three or four different barricaded neighborhoods and the helicopters circled lower and lower. For a while, the protesters and police stared each other down, fortifying their positions and readying themselves. I only know bits and pieces of what happened following that.
The best means of communication the movement has is the University radio station. The police temporarily took them off the air this afternoon by cutting electricity to the entire neighborhood. Volunteers worked for some time and finally restored the power and the station went back on the air. Losing this means of communication threatens to send the city into complete chaos, leaving each barricade to fend for themselves against thousands of armed federal police officers, local police officers (worse than the federal officers because the municipal will shoot to kill more often), soldiers and crazy PRI vigilantes. It will leave no means to organize the supporters who are not on the barricades and will be a huge blow to the movement and especially to the safety and well-being of those involved, as it is used to communicated the movement of federal forces. The police were unsuccessful in passing through the barricade that is set up around the radio station and thankfully no one in that area has been killed, though numbers of injuries are not released. The police also cut power to about six other neighborhoods, including Cinco Senores and Calicanto, where the New York reporter Bradley Will was killed Friday. The have unleashed bulldozers on the barricades, which move without any respect for the lives of protesters.
Three deaths and three abductions of teachers were reported Friday, and at least two more people have died today, one a 34 year old Nurse from the Social Security hospital IMSS and a 12 year old child. The teachers and the APPO are firmly non-violent. What then has the movement done to provoke the occupation of the state by military and police forces? What has it done to deserve twenty of its members and supporters murdered? I do not have the words to describe the level of injustice that is being forced on Oaxaca in these days. Supposedly, thousands of teachers are to return to classes tomorrow, but now we find ourselves beyond acts of repression and amid acts of war. It remains to be see whether anyone will have school tomorrow.
The moment of silence has now been interrupted by the fireworks that are set off in alarm on the barricades. I do not know what that means. Please, if you have not contacted your local Mexican embassy to denounce this outrage do so! NOTICE OF ACTIONS: NEW YORK MEXICAN EMBASSY MONDAY OCTOBER 30TH 9AM, WASHINGTON DC MEXICAN EMBASSY OCTOBER 30TH 5PM, PORTLAND OREGON MEXICAN EMBASSY OCTOBER 31ST 4-6PM. If you are near any of these events, PLEASE attend.
A PIECE OF GOOD NEWS: Apparently, protesters have stormed the Mexican Embassy in Milan, Italy! In Chiapas, protesters lit tires on fire and painted graffitti signs denouncing the violence in Oaxaca. The popular assemblies in the states of Michoacan, Puebla and Mexico are also planning and executing protest events. Protest events include the electronic blockade of Mexican government websites. INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ACTIVITY AND FOR CONTINUAL NEWS UPDATES, PLEASE GO TO  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/ YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A MEMBER TO READ POSTS! The post about the electronic blockade of websites in memory of Brad Will is included in one of the many, many articles and posts included on this website. We have lost a countryman in Bradley Will, who fell filming a documentary. About twenty Oaxacans have died in this struggle including three children. NOT ONE MORE DEATH! Please pass this information along to ANYONE you think might be interested and please attend the protest events and continue contacting local embassies to denounce the military presence against a peaceful social movement in Oaxaca.
Your personal news correspondent in Oaxaca, Kate Sherman
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| Read more about: Oaxaca | | supplements | | friday=sunday? | MM - 30.10.2006 19:14
I think for friday one has to read yesterday/sunday and for today=monday?
| | Bigger battle today | (MM) - 30.10.2006 21:11
From Charlie, OSAG:
The big battle will be at the university, and probably today by the looks of it. Helicopters dropping off lots troops in a few stratigic spots on the city edges, highway cops stopping movement supporters outside the city on the main roads (some are sneaking around and heading to the university). Police snipers reported on roof tops around the old markets, local tv station( azteca) reports many foreigenors in appo-always taking pictures and reporting lies about oaxaca govenor and police to foreign news sites. No blood bath-yet-and the big detention center in tlacalula still almost empty-so far. Things could have changed just since I sat down at this slow speed public internet place. More later, but if the radio universidad gets cut off for good ,news will be from cell phone calls from inside the university every now and then. I can't get into the city now except by walking, and that feels like a bad idea right now.
+ resistance growing?
In Chiapas solidarity and they want to form their APPO + at some places teachers were supposed to go back to school today, late at night they decided blocking roads instead.
| | double counts, missing names & bodies | MM - 31.10.2006 09:29
Een lijkt een dubbeltelling te zijn; een van de twee bevestigde 'officiele' APPO doden is tevens verpleger, dus kan dezelfde persoon zijn.
Verder is er gesproken over een 15 jarige en een 12 jarige (en eerder zelfs een geruct over vader en 14 jarige zoon).
Mogelijk gaat dit slechts om een en dezelfde kind. Bovendien ontbreken naam en lijk.
Deze methode was bedacht nadat bij vorige onlusten er doden gemeld werden die nooit hadden bestaan en het heel wat tijd kostte, voordat men doorkreeg dat iedereen elkaar na had zitten praten.
Het wordt nog uitgezocht, maar wel van belang dit meteen te duiden:
Nu zitten we dus 'slechts' op 2. Mogelijk 3, heel misschien 4 en onwaarschijnlijk 5.
| | PFP aanval, niet daarvoor | MM - 31.10.2006 09:37
-> Gaat hier over doden door de PFP aanval, niet van aanslagen daarvoor
| | More details deaths | MM - 31.10.2006 17:21
Nancy (OSAG):
For those of you keeping numbers, the Noticias of yesterday (Monday) has a list of dead, with names and dates. It's on an inside page, and they count 15 since the omovement bega. I am also keeping a list, and it's posted on OSAG's files. As soonas I have a moment I'll clean it up. I heard two boys, one 15, one 12. One was killed with a gas cannister or some similar device hitting him in the chest. A nurse and a teacher were also killed...
=>4?
Experimental body count page:
http://cxs2.info/w/index.php?title=Death_Imprisoned_Oaxaca
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