El Universal: Protest Reaches Mexican Capital
Protest Reaches Mexican Capital
By John Gilber/Special to The Herald Mexico
El Universal – October 10, 2006
http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/20880.html
Juan Pérez, a thin, 25 year-old teacher from Jocotepec,
Oaxaca, has been walking for the past 19 days. He wears
rough leather sandals, jeans, a hand-woven straw hat,
and a shirt with “APPO: a dream in construction”
painted in orange letters across the front.
“No revolution is going to come from behind a desk,” he
says as he swings his small backpack over his shoulders
and sets out from Nezahualc’yotl on the final 8 miles
of his journey.
“For the government, the voices of the people don’t
count,” he says, “that is why we have to take to the
streets, to do something with the impotence we feel.”
Pérez and several thousand of his colleagues from the
Oaxaca Peoples Popular Assembly (APPO) have walked
from Oaxaca City over 250 miles and through four states
to bring their demand that Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz be
ousted.
The march, which left Oaxaca City on Sept. 21 and
arrived in Mexico City on Monday, comes on the heels of
a four-month struggle to force the Ruiz Ortiz out in
response to a failed attempt on June 14 to violently
break up a teachers strike in Oaxaca´s central plaza.
“This is an example of people’s having reached the
limit of patience with decades of neglect,” says César
Mateos, one of the march’s organizers.
“The movement in Oaxaca seeks deep structural changes,
and the first step in these changes is the exit of
Ulises,” he says. “But we want to achieve these changes
through a peaceful movement, which is why we have done
this march. This is the true face of the APPO.”
The march began with over 4,000 people, dipped to
around 1,000 on the last few days, but then swelled to
at least 10,000 as it entered Mexico City.
The APPO protesters walked an average of 8 hours a day,
through both rainstorms and blistering heat, over
mountains and through valleys, enduring chilly nights
of mosquito bites and scorpion stings.
They were often met with support along the way,
including much needed nourishment from sympathetic food
and juice vendors along the highway.
“The support kept me motivated even though my feet
hurt,” said Betty, a 40 year-old preschool teacher from
San Mateo on the Oaxaca coast. “I cried twice, not from
the pain, but because there was so much support from
people.”
The marchers, carrying handmade signs, puppets mocking
Vicente Fox, and cardboard coffins for Ulises Ruiz,
walked down busy avenues leading to the Z’calo,
blocking traffic and enduring the full force of the
late-summer sun. Hundreds of people from nearby
neighborhoods and street-side markets lined the streets
to hand out water and sandwiches along the way.
They plan to set up a protest camp in front of the
Senate and have vowed to stay in Mexico City until
Ulises Ruiz is forced from office.
==========
Oaxaca, Mexico Overcoming Crisis
Prensa Latina – October 10, 2006
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=D54D366B-AC36-4652-A306-015DEE52F221)&language=EN
Mexico
Following eight hours of talks, the teachers’ union,
the Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) and the
Mexican Secretariat of Government finally agreed to
solve the ongoing conflict in that Mexican state via
legal procedures.
They decided to put public security in the hands of the
municipal and state police, led by a federal level
undersecretary.
Until Friday, APPO will hold consultation sessions on
handing over the capital of Oaxaca while teachers
promised to put the question of returning to classes to
the rank and file.
Removal of Governor Ulises Ruiz, the main demand of the
social movement, will be processed by the Senate, also
in charge of ruling on elimination of powers.
Meanwhile, a caravan of Oaxaca teachers and grassroots
activists arrived Monday evening in the Federal
District to stage a sit-in in front of the Senate to
demand the removal of Ruiz, which they consider the
only possible out of the conflict.
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