López Obrador: We Will Continue to Speak Out Until the Powers That Be in Oaxaca Are Ousted Speech of Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the meeting to support the people of Oaxaca, delivered at the Hemiciclo a Juarez (Monument for Juarez) of this city Mexico, Federal District Tuesday, 31 October 2006 Friends: We have assembled today to express our support for the people of Oaxaca, who have been attacked by the federal police forces. The violent military occupation of that city has deepened the political and social crisis that exists in that region and the entire nation. In a circumstance like the one of Oaxaca, where on one side are demonstrators and on the other, armored vehicles, we cannot remain silent, much less take the side of those who sent the armored vehicles. Why have things come to this point in Oaxaca? The conflict, which has lasted more than five months, is a product of the decay and abuse of power that Oaxaca has suffered for many decades, for centuries. The list of offenses and crimes committed by the PRI governments in Oaxaca, under the protection of power, is long, but UIises Ruiz, in just a short time in the government, has surpassed his predecessors in cynicism and badness: he arrived at the state government -- let us not forget it -- by means of electoral fraud; he subjected social and political dissidents to systematic and brutal repression, with forced disappearances, persecutions, imprisonment, and murders in Oaxaca; he attacked the media as in the case of the journal Noticias de Oaxaca [News of Oaxaca]; he violated the human rights of a whole people without any consideration; his corruption and authoritarianism have been insatiable. Ruiz's abuses and crimes, committed in broad daylight, overwhelmed the patience of the Oaxaqueños [Oaxacans] and fed the popular protest that exploded in recent months. May no one be deceived: violence in Oaxaca was initiated by the gangster attitude of Ulises Ruiz. When governors act against the people's interests and impose themselves by means of fraud and corruption, as in Oaxaca, when the authority destroys the state of law and kills, attacks, and imprisons, as in Oaxaca, the people have to -- they can and they must -- make their rights matter to restore democracy and justice. That is the origin of the social rebellion in the state of Oaxaca that, in spite of violence by those who oppose the rebellion, has maintained its peaceful and democratic character. We recognize and respect wise leadership of the assembly of the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca. The existence of citizen nonconformity and the disrepute of the Oaxacan government were made clear in the last elections of the second of July, which the PRI resoundingly lost for the first time. In fact, the majority of Oaxaqueños voted for an Alternative Project of the Nation [Proyecto Alternativo de Nación, a 20-point program proposed by AMLO], but fundamentally those elections were a referendum against Ulises Ruiz. Through the vote, the Oaxaqueño citizens demonstrated the majority's rejection of the cacique government of Ulises Ruiz. Nevertheless, in spite of people's repudiation, and the organized and extended protest, the ex cathedra agreements of the PRI and the PAN still keep Ulises Ruiz in power. Here is the reality: the PRI governors supported Felipe Calderón with fraudulent electoral actions in their states. For that reason, they reached an agreement at the Ministry of the Interior to support Ulises Ruiz at any cost. The political class, the ill-named political class, protects its interests without regard for the social and political cost, so long as it can maintain its power and privileges. Oaxaca -- we have to say this -- is paying with blood for the agreement between the PRI and PAN political mafias to guarantee the inauguration of the puppet, the spurious Felipe Calderón, on the first of December. By the repression in Oaxaca, that puppet demonstrates to what lengths he would go to take power -- neither legality nor democracy matters to him, much less the suffering of the people. The conflict in Oaxaca is proof that the whole Mexican political system is rotten, that it has already become decrepit. The majority of the Mexican people no longer want this corrupt and authoritarian system, and sooner rather than later it will be shown that the alliance of the Right, between the PAN and the PRI officeholders, will be defeated by the popular democratic movement. We are not going to accept the perverse relation of complicity at the expense of the suffering of people. It is for that reason that we demand and will continue to demand permanently: 1. The removal of the powers that be in Oaxaca and the departure of Ulises Ruiz; for that, we will ask the senators of the Broad Progressive Front to reiterate this demand in the Chamber of Deputies. Also it must be made clear that, if the PAN is not an accomplice of Ulises Ruiz, the party must support this demand, so that the powers that be in Oaxaca will be ousted. We are not sucking our thumbs, we do not want the Senate's exhortations to Mr. Ulises Ruiz, we want the Senate to exert its authority and remove the powers that be in Oaxaca. Never accept the simulation and hypocrisy of the PAN: on one hand, the party makes the ex cathedra agreement to support the cacique Ulises Ruiz, dispatching the Federal Preventive Police; and, on the other, the senators of this party say that they want Ruiz's resignation and that they urge him to make the decision freely and voluntarily. No! In the Senate, the removal of the powers that be can be carried out, and it is very simple: The PRD and PAN senators constitute a majority, and we will see if the PAN, and the senators of that party, endorse it when the senators of the PRD make the formal proposal for the removal of the powers that be. Then, their little theater will have to come to an end, and then we will see on which side they stand, the side of the people or that of the cacique. 2. We demand the withdrawal of the undercover Army of Federal Preventive Police from Oaxaca. We reiterate: the Mexican Army must not be used to repress the people. Also, we demand freedom for the political prisoners and punishment for the authorities responsible for the crimes. 3. And finally, we believe that the best option to restore political stability and social peace in Oaxaca lies in calling elections, so that the people of Oaxaca, sovereign, will be the ones who, freely and democratically, choose who must govern their destinies. That is the true solution to the conflict in Oaxaca. To defend Oaxaca is to defend the Republic. Let us support the dignity of the people of Oaxaca. The Oaxaqueños have made the thought expressed by that quintessential Mexican, Benito Juárez, their own. Juárez says: "The people who wish to be free will be free. [Miguel] Hidalgo taught that the power of kings is too weak when they govern against the will of the peoples." To the devil with caciques and their institutions! To the devil with their corrupt and repressive institutions! Toward the fundamental reconstruction of the country! Never again must the blood of people be spilled by the ambition of the powerful! Never again shall we permit the offense against and humiliation of our people! Let us be alert, let us not leave the Oaxaqueños alone, let us continue to speak out until we oust the powers that be in Oaxaca and until the social and political crisis that confront that state is solved by the democratic method. We are moving forward. Long live Benito Juárez, the extraordinary president, the best one we have had in our history! Long live Oaxaca! Long live Mexico! Thank you very much. [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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US Journalist Killed in Oaxaca by Paramilitaries Human Rights Fellow John Gibler Available for Interviews from Oaxaca; He Knew the Slain Journalist Oaxaca, Mexico ? US journalist Brad Will was killed by paramilitaries in Oaxaca, Mexico yesterday, while covering a popular uprising in the city that began as a teachers? strike and turned into a local rebellion against the state?s governor. Interviews about Will?s death and additional ongoing incidents of violence in Oaxaca are available with John Gibler, an independent journalist and human rights fellow for the organization Global Exchange. Gibler knew Will and is in Oaxaca City now, investigating the circumstances of Will?s death. According to Gibler, yesterday police and paramilitaries dressed as civilians attacked more than 15 different locations in Oaxaca City, using high-powered assault rifles and pistols. Mexican media outlets, including El Universal, have photographed, videotaped and identified these paramilitaries. "These paramilitaries have been shooting and killing people with total impunity since July. It?s been documented by the Mexican national media and shown on television," Gibler said. "There's now way you can not talk about state responsibility here. You can?t do it." Gibler has been in Mexico since January, covering the Zapatistas? "Other Campaign," the contested presidential election, and recently the uprising in Oaxaca. His writings have been published in The Herald Mexico/El Universal, ZNet, In These Times and other publications. They are available at http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/americas/mexico/dispatches/ Gibler met Will while they were both covering the Other Campaign. "Brad was a courageous and incredibly generous and sweet guy who was here in solidarity with what he thought was a mis-reported and under-reported grassroots movement. He was focusing on filming interviews with grassroots people," Gibler said. Global Exchange and other human rights groups inside and outside of Mexico are concerned that Mexican President Vicente Fox may use Federal force to put down the civil rest in Oaxaca. "Federal military intervention in this situation is certain to escalate the conflict and poses tremendous and unnecessary risks to the people of Oaxaca City and State," said Ted Lewis, founding director of Global Exchange's Mexico Program. The conflict in Oaxaca began on May 22 as a teachers strike for better wages and a higher budget to provide impoverished school children with uniforms, breakfasts, and basic school supplies. After refusing to negotiate with the teachers union, Gov. Ulises Ruiz sent the state police into Oaxaca City's central plaza on June 14 to remove the teachers' protest camp with tear gas and police batons. Hundreds were injured in the pitched battle that resulted, and after a few hours the teachers, supported by outraged local residents, forced the police out of town. They have not been back since. The teachers and members of the Oaxaca People's Assembly (APPO) that formed after the failed police raid decided to suspend the teachers' original list of demands and focus all their efforts on forcing the removal of Gov. Ruiz. Since June 14, they have subjected Oaxaca City to increasingly radical civil disobedience tactics, such as surrounding state government buildings with protest camps, covering the city's walls with political graffiti, and taking over public and private radio stations. Gibler says that although protesters in Oaxaca have been filmed carrying guns, they have never exchanged gunfire with paramilitaries. The shooting has been one way. [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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Today policemen of Ulises Ruiz, Governor of Oaxaca, murdeered Bradley Will, american citizen and journalist. Brad Will, US Journalist and cameraman, killed in Oaxaca - killer ID'd - actions planned in US William Bradley Roland, aka Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and camerman, was shot and killed yesterday in Oaxaca, Mexico, by paramiliaries affiliated with the PRI, the former Mexican ruling party. Will was in Oaxaca covering the continued resistance of teachers and other workers against the PRI-controlled government of the State of Oaxaca. According to reports from New York City Independent Media Center and La Jornada, Will, 36, was shot at the Santa Lucia Barricade from a distance of 30-40 meters in the pit of the stomach by plainclothes paramilitaries and died while enroute to the Red Cross. Brad Will, US Journalist and cameraman, killed in Oaxaca - killer ID'd - actions planned in US [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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Greetings to all our readers, answering your messages, we are going to post an interview and part of a conference with scientists who explain the electoral fraud process in mathematical and statistical terms. In the mean time, please read the next article, which talks about today's election in Tabasco, Mexico, homeland of the legitimate president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: Mexican leftist party faces tough test in state election marred by gunfire, beatings "The Associated Press" October 15, 2006 VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico Mexico's main leftist party, still angry over its narrow loss in presidential elections, faces the prospect of another defeat Sunday in Tabasco state, in a race that has seen candidates' homes fired upon and party activists beaten. Many see the vote as a referendum on former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a Tabasco native who has been stumping hard for his party's gubernatorial candidate, Cesar Raul Ojeda. Most opinion polls show Ojeda, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, trailing Andres Rafael Granier of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which rules the swampy state. Shots were fired on Saturday at the houses of PRI mayoral candidates in the towns of Centla and Huimanguillo, state police reported. No one was injured and no arrests were made. Also in Huimanguillo, rival from boths parties clashed, leading to 10 arrests. PRI officials said one of their members was hospitalized in serious condition after being beaten by metal pipes. Saturday's violence followed the arrests of more than 20 militants from both parties over the two previous days for allegedly carrying guns, machetes and baseball bats. PRI leaders accused the PRD of trying to destabilize the election and scare people away from voting. "They are looking for a confrontation and they are betting they can stop people from going to vote," said Georgina Trujillo, head of the PRI in Tabasco state. "We are not going to fall for the confrontation." PRD chief Leonel Cota, however, blamed the unrest on PRI officials stirring up trouble to try to make people afraid of his party. The PRI campaign has tried to brand Ojeda as an extremist linked to the paralyzing street blockades his party launched in Mexico City to protest alleged fraud in the presidential election. Lopez Obrador lost that vote to Felipe Calderon of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party by about 0.6 percent. Calderon takes office Dec. 1. Many Tabasco residents said they fear political instability spreading to their state. "There has been a lot of worry here about all the recent protests and uncertainty in Mexico," said Rocina Lopez, a 22-year-old computer salesman in the state capital of Villahermosa. "We need peace and jobs, not unrest." The tension has made some voters worry about going to cast their ballot. "Why should I risk going to the polls and getting attacked because someone doesn't like who I voted for?" said Jose Hernandez, a farmer in the Indian village of Tucta. Both parties have also accused each other of electoral dirty tricks. Lopez Obrador has alleged that the PRI has handed out gifts to poor voters ? a practice that was common during the seven decades the party ran the country. On Tuesday, his aides released a video allegedly showing PRI workers unloading thousands of bicycles and cans of house paint. PRI spokesman Norberto Lopez Zuniga dismissed the video as "propaganda." Lopez Obrador is a shopkeeper's son who began his career as a government official working with poor Chontal Indians around Tabasco swamps. Many Chontals still revere him and his party. "Before he came, we had nothing. He gave us jobs and houses," said Pedro Bernardo a 59-year-old Chontal farmer in Tucta. "Some people can be tricked like frogs and believe the lies they tell about him. But I will never abandon him." Lopez Obrador himself says the state is a crucial battleground, with nationwide repercussions. "If the PRI wins Tabasco, our adversaries will laugh at us," Lopez Obrador said, "and say that we even lose in our own land." VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico Mexico's main leftist party, still angry over its narrow loss in presidential elections, faces the prospect of another defeat Sunday in Tabasco state, in a race that has seen candidates' homes fired upon and party activists beaten. Many see the vote as a referendum on former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a Tabasco native who has been stumping hard for his party's gubernatorial candidate, Cesar Raul Ojeda. Most opinion polls show Ojeda, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, trailing Andres Rafael Granier of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which rules the swampy state. Shots were fired on Saturday at the houses of PRI mayoral candidates in the towns of Centla and Huimanguillo, state police reported. No one was injured and no arrests were made. Also in Huimanguillo, rival from boths parties clashed, leading to 10 arrests. PRI officials said one of their members was hospitalized in serious condition after being beaten by metal pipes. Saturday's violence followed the arrests of more than 20 militants from both parties over the two previous days for allegedly carrying guns, machetes and baseball bats. PRI leaders accused the PRD of trying to destabilize the election and scare people away from voting. "They are looking for a confrontation and they are betting they can stop people from going to vote," said Georgina Trujillo, head of the PRI in Tabasco state. "We are not going to fall for the confrontation." PRD chief Leonel Cota, however, blamed the unrest on PRI officials stirring up trouble to try to make people afraid of his party. The PRI campaign has tried to brand Ojeda as an extremist linked to the paralyzing street blockades his party launched in Mexico City to protest alleged fraud in the presidential election. Lopez Obrador lost that vote to Felipe Calderon of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party by about 0.6 percent. Calderon takes office Dec. 1. Many Tabasco residents said they fear political instability spreading to their state. "There has been a lot of worry here about all the recent protests and uncertainty in Mexico," said Rocina Lopez, a 22-year-old computer salesman in the state capital of Villahermosa. "We need peace and jobs, not unrest." The tension has made some voters worry about going to cast their ballot. "Why should I risk going to the polls and getting attacked because someone doesn't like who I voted for?" said Jose Hernandez, a farmer in the Indian village of Tucta. Both parties have also accused each other of electoral dirty tricks. Lopez Obrador has alleged that the PRI has handed out gifts to poor voters ? a practice that was common during the seven decades the party ran the country. On Tuesday, his aides released a video allegedly showing PRI workers unloading thousands of bicycles and cans of house paint. PRI spokesman Norberto Lopez Zuniga dismissed the video as "propaganda." Lopez Obrador is a shopkeeper's son who began his career as a government official working with poor Chontal Indians around Tabasco swamps. Many Chontals still revere him and his party. "Before he came, we had nothing. He gave us jobs and houses," said Pedro Bernardo a 59-year-old Chontal farmer in Tucta. "Some people can be tricked like frogs and believe the lies they tell about him. But I will never abandon him." Lopez Obrador himself says the state is a crucial battleground, with nationwide repercussions. "If the PRI wins Tabasco, our adversaries will laugh at us," Lopez Obrador said, "and say that we even lose in our own land." 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The next video contains an interview with Manuel Camacho, former Mexico's City Mayor and advisor to Lopez Obrador. THE AMERICAS FORUM recently interviewed Manuel Camacho Solis, political advisor to Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Manuel Camacho Solis: THE AMERICAS FORUM INTERVIEW Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClFt1P1sP0k [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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Dispute over election keeps Mexico on edge Supporters refuse to admit that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lost the presidential election and vow to set up their own government in protest. David Adams Latin America Correspondent "St. Petersburg Times" Published October 9, 2006 [Times photo: David Adams] In Mexico City, protests continue almost daily in support of defeated candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Many Mexicans, however, say they are ready for their country to move beyond the disputed election. [AP photos] Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he will never recognize Felipe Calderon as president. Felipe Calderon is to be sworn in as president on Dec. 1. Protesters say they will disrupt the ceremony. MEXICO CITY - Esperanza Luna, 60, spent 48 days this summer sleeping on a mattress under a tent in Mexico's colonial plaza, the Zocalo. "It was an ordeal, but we had to support our candidate," she said. "A massive fraud was perpetrated on us." Luna and many other Mexicans say they remain convinced that presidential elections in early July were stolen by the country's political and business elite. The sit-in by thousands of supporters of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lasted 2½ months, even after a partial recount ratified the results. But the political battle over July's election results is far from over. Unlike the bitterly contested U.S. presidential election in 2000, Lopez Obrador refuses to follow Al Gore's example and accept defeat. Instead, he vows he will never recognize the victory of conservative candidate Felipe Calderon, who was confirmed president-elect last month by electoral officials. Lopez Obrador is not kidding, either. His supporters, drawn mostly from poor urban areas such as Mexico City and the rural south, declared him the legitimate president-elect at a "democratic national convention" organized by the Democratic Revolutionary Party, which he heads. Next month, they plan to anoint him president in a "people's" ceremony - complete with presidential sash. A cabinet is being drawn up, but Lopez Obrador's supporters don't want anyone to call it a "parallel" or "shadow" government. "We are the government," said PRD spokesman Gerardo Fernandez Norona. "We are disputing the representation of the nation with the usurper." Most ominous, the party is directing a campaign of "civil resistance" to try to prevent Calderon from being sworn in Dec. 1. The party says it plans to blockade the Congress building where the official ceremony is held with thousands of demonstrators - the sort of action even the most strident U.S. Democrats shied away from in 2000. "We can't accept the results," said Fernandez Norona. "To do that would be a step back for Mexican democracy. We are not going to betray the Mexican people." Asking the PRD to accept defeat, he said, was like police telling a man whose wife has been raped during a home invasion to "sort it out" amicably with the assailants. Mexico is not like the United States, where power switches back and forth between the two parties, Fernandez Norona said. "Here, they have never let us govern," he said. He said the PRD was denied victory in elections widely recognized as fraudulent in 1988. "The difference between the United States and here is that in Mexico there is no political cost for you or your party of continuing the fight," said Ana Maria Salazar, a Harvard-educated political scientist who hosts a radio show and Internet blog on Mexican politics. "Losing with grace in the United States has a lot of value politically. Here it doesn't." Mexico only recently emerged from decades of one-party rule and a long tradition of political corruption. While there has been notable progress in some areas, the democratic transition is still in its infancy, analysts say. "Pride in our institutions is still lacking," said Roger Bartra, a leading sociologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. "People don't trust democracy because it hasn't satisfied their needs." But as the weeks go by, Lopez Obrador's campaign could be running out of steam. Although polls show 40 percent of Mexicans believe there was fraud, public support for Lopez Obrador has crumbled from 35 percent on election day to the low 20s. Many people express anger over the sit-in and a campaign of street demonstrations that have played havoc with traffic in one of the world's most congested cities. These days many Mexicans have other, more important, things on their minds besides the election. That includes Luna, the 60-year-old demonstrator. She was back in the Zocalo this week for another protest march. But this time it wasn't in support of Lopez Obrador, but against plans by the PRD-controlled city government to take over administration of locally run "people's cemeteries." "The politicians want to make a business out of everything, including the dead, because they think they can make a business out of it," she said, standing next to a coffin draped with the slogan: "The cemeteries of the people can't be stolen or sold." Troubling as they may seem from the outside, street protests are part of daily life in Mexico, where lack of faith in politicians easily translates into social action. Even so, few are willing to bet on Mexico's political stability. Most don't believe Lopez Obrador will fade away completely. And Calderon won by barely 0.5 percent, or 230,000 votes of 41-million ballots. A bitter political dispute in the southern state of Oaxaca serves as a daily reminder of the risk of social upheaval. A 4-month-old teachers strike has turned into open revolt, shutting down one of Mexico's most attractive colonial cities. All eyes are on elections Sunday for governor in Lopez Obrador's home state of Tabasco, where the PRD is trailing in the polls to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, which ruled Mexico for 70 years until it lost the country's first truly democratic elections in 2000. Defeat would be highly embarrassing for Lopez Obrador and further deflate his credibility. Some question if Lopez Obrador's refusal to back down could inspire violence in the capital, too. But so far the PRD has rejected calls by radical groups for insurrection. In the Zocalo, Luna's cemetery protest began by ramming a coffin into the gates of the city government building. But that's as violent as it got. Despite her opposition to the PRD's cemetery policy, Luna said she would continue to stand by Lopez Obrador. "We are with him to the end," she said. "He's not beaten yet." ----------------> Mexico Lopez Obrador: Civil Resistance Vital "Prensa Latina" Mexico, Oct 8 Mexican opposition leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador termed important the peaceful resistance stated last July in Mexico to stop economic and social inequalities. Lopez Obrador said in Tabasco, as part of a national tour, that the mobilization will continue as part of a fair and vital movement otherwise Mexicans will stay without a defense. He noted the disparity in per capita distribution of incomes as 90 percent earn less than the minimum and 100 people get fortunes and concentrate national wealth. He added that misery affects namely the indigenous population marginalized at swamps and mountains and very few know to read and write. Lopez Obrador finally promised to devote his life to fight for those who have least. [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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Anti-corruption protests hit Mexico capital "The New Zeland Herald" Protsters marched on Mexico City demanding an end to provincial corruption. Picture / Reuters MEXICO CITY - Thousands of protesters trying to bring down a state governor marched from Mexico's conflict-torn tourist city of Oaxaca into the capital on Monday as the interior minister tried to stave off violent clashes. Leftist activists and striking teachers have barricaded the colonial centre of Oaxaca for months, hoping to force the resignation of Ulises Ruiz, who they accuse of corruption, heavy-handed tactics and ignoring poverty. After walking for days, thousands marched through Mexico City's tattered outskirts waving banners and shouting slogans to bolster their leaders' position in deadlocked talks with President Vicente Fox's government. Oaxaca is 450 km from Mexico City. Fox has vowed to resolve the conflict before handing power to his ruling party successor Felipe Calderon on December 1. Fox's conservative government says it will restore order to the city of famed monasteries and leafy squares but is trying to negotiate a peaceful solution. The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, the left-wing alliance behind the protests, says only Ruiz's resignation will end its protests. ''We want Oaxaca to be peaceful again, but Oaxaca cannot be peaceful until Ulises Ruiz leaves power,'' said Fernando Estrada, a leader of the group at the front of the march. Protesters carried effigies of Ruiz and one group held a black coffin spattered with red paint and the words: ``The bad government is dead.'' Oaxaca was quiet as protesters awaited news of negotiations between protest leaders and Interior Minister Carlos Abascal. They had lifted some barricades over the weekend as a sign of good will in the negotiations. Ambushes and paramilitary-style drive-by shootings, which protesters say were ordered by Ruiz, have killed at least five activists since the conflict began. A prominent teacher who had opposed the strike was murdered last week, his throat cut in an attack for which both sides denied responsibility. The protests, which started four months ago, have strewn Oaxaca's streets with burnt out cars and graffiti, scaring away tourists who provide the city's main income. Ruiz belongs to a traditional wing of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled the country for 71 years until Fox's 2000 victory and still wields almost feudal power in some of rural Mexico's poorest outposts. Fox is anxious to avoid violence. But his party needs the PRI's support to counterbalance the leftist coalition that gained power in Congress in the July 2 presidential election despite the narrow defeat of its candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. PRI leaders have made clear they are opposed to Ruiz being forced from office. Protesters from Oaxaca in straw hats and colourful indigenous blouses were joined by sympathisers from the edge of the city, where many Oaxacans have settled in recent years. Mexico City is just recovering from mass protests by Lopez Obrador's supporters, who claimed he was defeated through fraud. [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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Special from Mexico: The Oaxaca Commune on alert Mario Caballero Monday Oct 9th, 2006 Regarding self-defense, the first State Assembly of Oaxaca set out several measures, some of the most important are: "a self-defense plan which includes: an organizational structure for the neighborhoods and the functioning of the barricades (. . .) Activating three mobile brigades: to take a look at and analyze URO's provocation of reopening the schools (. . .) Setting up regional barricades in the places which would be considered strategic for a possible repression. organizing open forums from one camp to another to advise on the setting up of barricades, minimum knowledge about human rights, on the importance of contributions of cameras, lamps, pre-paid cellular phones, etc., with the aim of organizing self-defense correctly. Prove all the physical and psychological harm caused to the people of Oaxaca by the state government" (Resolution of the First State Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, October 3). [Translator' s note: I am happy to send in this interview of cde. Mario Caballero, a good friend and generous host, who is in Oaxaca. ?Yosef M] Special from Mexico: The Oaxaca Commune on alert From La Verdad Obrera 207 (Buenos Aires) October 5, 2006 Defend the Oaxaca Commune against the attacks and maneuvers of the government and the regime At press time, the new call from the federal government to the representatives of the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca [APPO, the Popular Assembly], for Thursday, October 5 became known. On October 4, the APPO had refused to sit in negotiations with businessmen and the church, a plan by which the government was trying to dilute the weight of the APPO and press for negotiations under unfavorable conditions. During recent days the government set up a big military operation around Oaxaca City and is continuing provocations against the heroic struggle of the people of Oaxaca. Threats of repression are increasing, showing to what extent the government is willing to go to force the Oaxaca Commune to yield. We interviewed Mario Caballero, leader of the Liga de Trabajadores por el Socialismo-- Contracorriente (LTS?CC), a fraternal group of the PTS [Socialist Workers Party of Argentina] in Mexico and a member group of the Fracción Trotskista?Cuarta Internacional, who is in Oaxaca. The Vicente Fox (PAN) government and the communications media are keeping up hard talk against the APPO and the teachers, even though negotiations are continuing. Tell us about the situation today in Oaxaca. MC [Mario Caballero]: To begin with, I must say that in the conference held by the leadership of Section 22 of the CNTE (teachers' union), the majority voted for continuing the strike that has now lasted more than 140 days. Thus the rank and file teachers imposed their views on the negotiating policy of the leadership, personified in the leader Rueda Pacheco. At the same time, parents and students have been on the radios exhorting not to stop the strike: ". . . I prefer that my daughter not go to classes, but that Ulises Ruiz not return, the people are supporting [the striking teachers], if you stop the sit-in, you will lose all your support from the people of Oaxaca. . ." In spite of the attempts of Carlos Abascal, the Secretary of the Interior, to arrive at negotiations with the APPO and the teachers' leaders, the bases [rank and file people] have put forward an iron resistance against "cooling-off measures" and are maintaining their demand, "URO (Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz) get out." At the same time, the Caravan-March to the Distrito Federal [Mexico City], headed by the APPO, the teachers' union and the Coordinadora de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas [COMO, Oaxaca Womens' Coordinating Committee], continues its course. Declarations by Fox, which offer a choice between "dialogue and punishment," threaten impending repression, showing that the government is willing to close the six years [of Fox's presidential term] with a blood bath, to clear the way for Felipe Calderón and put an end to the most heroic struggle in recent years: the Oaxaca Commune. However, [government] is keeping up a line of constant negotiations, in order to try to erode and break the Oaxaca Commune from within, because of the high costs of a military eviction [of striking teachers from the Oaxaca city square], which would weaken the next government, imposed by fraud, even more, although it is not clear that this alternative would be sufficient to dismantle this big struggle. What repercussions did the threats to send in the [militarized] Federal Preventive Police [PFP] cause in Oaxaca? MC: In Oaxaca there is a big willingness to resist repression. Faced with rumors of the entry of the Army to "guarantee order" and the military helicopters' overflights of the sit-in in the city square, the barricades were improved and reorganized, some of them were even formed spontaneously, the workers, women and students remain determined. In spite of the permanent tension, people's spirits are generally good, although it is still not clear what the response would be, if soldiers arrive. From the LTS?CC, we believe that it is essential that the APPO, the CNTE and the workers' and peoples' organizations organize a new mega-march so that there are hundreds of thousands who could put a stop to a threat of repression, a general strike in Oaxaca State to force Ulises Ruiz to leave and for the immediate withdrawal of the Army and the PFP. Regarding self-defense, the first State Assembly of Oaxaca set out several measures, some of the most important are: "a self-defense plan which includes: an organizational structure for the neighborhoods and the functioning of the barricades (. . .) Activating three mobile brigades: to take a look at and analyze URO's provocation of reopening the schools (. . .) Setting up regional barricades in the places which would be considered strategic for a possible repression. organizing open forums from one camp to another to advise on the setting up of barricades, minimum knowledge about human rights, on the importance of contributions of cameras, lamps, pre-paid cellular phones, etc., with the aim of organizing self-defense correctly. Prove all the physical and psychological harm caused to the people of Oaxaca by the state government" (Resolution of the First State Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, October 3). What perspectives do you believe the struggle of Oaxaca presents in the present situation in Mexico? MC: For almost 5 months, the workers and people of Oaxaca have been ready to struggle, resorting to radicalized methods (like the strike and the confrontation with the police) and controlling big parts of the city. While the APPO is acting in deeds like an incipient power of the masses in struggle, the Oaxaca Commune marks the road to follow to confront an anti-democratic and repressive regime of rule by alternating parties, the PRI, the PAN and the PRD of López Obrador and Cárdenas. This is why Fox and the regime want to put an end to this struggle, since the fall of the governor through mobilization and struggle would set a dangerous precedent. For that reason the most important military operation since 1994 (against the Zapatista uprising) has been deployed, to intimidate and repress the resistance of the people of Oaxaca, headed by the APPO and the Oaxaca Women's Commission. And, if this generalized repression is not launched, Fox wants to force the people of Oaxaca to accept deceitful negotiations that cannot solve their fundamental demands. The "negotiations" proposed by the government appeared as a deception to corner the APPO, first inviting it to a table together with businessmen and the church, and now going to a "separate table" where they will try to deceive the movement and force its most determined sectors to yield. A real fraud in the service of doing away with this big struggle, that shows "calls to harmony" must not be trusted. In the DF [Mexico City] and the whole country, we in unions and political and social organizations must get mobilized now, to curb repression in solidarity with Oaxaca. The hundreds of thousands who demonstrated against the fraud, the workers who resist the government's plans, the organizations which form "the Other Campaign," should move urgently, with a policy independent of the parties of the regime, against any attempt at repression. To win the demands of the teachers and the people of Oaxaca, beginning with the fall of Ulises Ruiz, the main task is to deepen the mobilization and the struggle, aiming at imposing a rovisional government by the APPO and the workers' and popular organizations, and extending the solidarity movement to a national level, with the perspective of a big national struggle against the entire regime. For that, it is essential to generalize the experience of the APPO, by taking up again its methods and organization, by promoting a National Strike in solidarity with Oaxaca and the APPO. [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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George Shultz Leads Drive To Privatize Mexico's Oil EIR Staff "Executive Intelligence Review" The LaRouche Youth Movement (LYM) is raising the alarum in Mexico, that George Shultz, the godfather of the Bush Administration, is leading an international drive to steal Mexico's oil. In a leaflet circulating through Mexico, in tandem with the mobilization against privatization called by the actual winner of the Mexican Presidential elections, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the LYM exposes the latest machinations of the Synarchists against Mexico. The leaflet lays out the dirty plot as follows: "Felipe Calderón had barely been proclaimed 'President-elect' of Mexico, when one week later, George Shultz, the real architect of the Bush-Cheney government and sponsor of Pinochet and his Chile, had already organized a secret meeting in a little town in Canada, with a select group of financiers, officials of the Cheney-Bush and Vicente Fox governments, and representatives of Calderón's presumed incoming government. They gathered to discuss the privatization of Pemex, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border, and other aspects of what would be Mexico's final surrender to the Anglo-Dutch financial interests and their allies in the Synarchist International. "This is precisely what U.S. Democratic leader Lyndon LaRouche has repeatedly warned of, namely, that this is the fate the Synarchist bankers have reserved for Mexico in the face of the collapsing international financial system now onrushing. "The confab was held in Banff, a little tourist town in the Canadian province of Alberta, under the guise of a forum of the member countries of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It was presided over jointly by George Shultz for the United States; former Alberta Prime Minister Peter Lougheed for Canada; and Pedro Aspe of Mexico, the former Finance Secretary of [President] Carlos Salinas de Gortari and current member of the international bankers' network PlaNet Finance, a distinction which he shares with Synarchist banker Felix Rohatyn of Lazard Frères. "The discussions held between Sept. 12 and 14, included officials from the governments of those three countries, although it was not billed as an official event, as well as such representatives of Felipe Calderón as Arturo Sarukhan, his coordinator of international affairs, and Juan Camilo Mouriño, general coordinator of his transition team. "To translate what was discussed at this confab into plain language, it is first necessary to explain who George Shultz the fascist really is. This individual partnered with Henry Kissinger during the corrupt Richard Nixon government to, first, in 1971, dismantle the Bretton Woods System created by Franklin D. Roosevelt, thereby paving the way for the globalization process through privatizations and deregulation of the economy, as a way to smash the sovereign nation-state. "Then, in 1973, Shultz and Kissinger, with the help of Felix Rohatyn, who was then director of ITT, imposed the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, and with the monetarists of the University of Chicago, created the Chile model which the people of that nation still suffer under today. "Shultz is the true brains behind the Bush and Cheney government. Starting with the campaign in 2000, Shultz organized the so-called Vulcan group, which captured the Bush Cabinet from the very start, and which included Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and other maniacs who have put in place their plan for permanent warfare. "Since the Salinas era, when the Synarchist program to smash Mexico as a sovereign republic began to escalate, Pedro Aspe has served as little more than the bankers' errand boy, and he continues in that role today. At this event, he pulled together the gang of Mexican traitors that participated in the Banff plot. "In addition to the Calderón representatives, there were also Vinicio Suro of Pemex; Eduardo Medina Mora of the Public Security Ministry; Gerónimo Gutiérrez, Undersecretary for North America of the Foreign Affairs Ministry; and Mexico's ambassadors to the United States and Canada, Carlos de Icaza and María Teresa García Segovia de Madero, respectively. Jorge Castañeda's half-brother Andrés Rozental served as the Mexican coordinator of the event. And representing Michoacán governor Lázaro Cárdenas was his advisor Carlos Heredia. "Representatives of Chevron and other international energy groups, along with members of the U.S. government who prepared Cheney's energy plan, joined with Pemex's Vinicio Suro in a forum entitled 'A North American Energy Strategy.' "The session on security was scheduled to feature U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but his presence has not been confirmed, and was perhaps not necessary. But what is known is that there was discussion of relations among the three nations' defense systems, in particular, militarization of the border, immigration, national security, military production, and control of North America's energy reserves. "Clearly, the international bankers are already celebrating their premature erection results, imagining that with Calderón, they will be able to take Pinochet's Chile and stick it to Mexico. "Don't let it happen! Those who are promoting the privatization of Pemex, CFE, and the national patrimony of Mexico, are as fascist as their guru George Shultz. "What Mexico needs are great infrastructure projects to reactivate agriculture and industry, to develop the oil industry as a transition to an economy based on nuclear energy, and to re-nationalize the Bank of Mexico, to take it back from the Synarchist private bankers. "On October 31, Lyndon LaRouche will give an international webcast to explain the international strategic framework within which Shultz's financial hit-men hope to capture Mexico. You can join it at www.larouchepub.com/spanish at 9 a.m. Mexico time." The Best-Laid Plans Clearly, the Synarchist controllers of the Bush Administration had planned this oil grab a long time before the Mexican Presidential election. Indeed, incumbent President Vicente Fox was supposed to be able to implement the privatization of Pemex, but fell flat on his face, because of firm resistance from nationalist sectors within both the PRI and the PRD parties. Now Calderón, a "President" who can hardly show his face in public without facing derision, has been charged with the task by his international controllers. A task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, and the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI, the CFR'S Mexican partner), issued the operant blueprint for the next phase of the destruction of Mexico, Canada, and the United States as independent nations in May 2005, under the title "Building a North American Community." Their aim is nothing less than to establish, by 2010, supranational rule by private interests over the region. As the task force itself asserts, its "central recommendation is establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community, the boundaries of which would be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter." No grand schemes of confederation or union, such as are collapsing in Europe today, are wanted. Rather, the "common economic space" they envision is run by private interests. "A new North American community should rely more on the market and less on bureaucracy," the task force demands. Task force co-chairs were Boston banker-turned-failed-politician Bill Weld for the United States; Mexico's Harvard-trained Salinas/Rohatyn operative Pedro Aspe; and Canada's John P. Manley, a former senior government official who headed the Public Security and Anti-Terrorism Cabinet Committee after 9/11. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) played a key role. Composed of the chief executives of Canada's 150 leading business and financial interests, the CCCE took the lead in ramming through the Canadian-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in the 1980s, and NAFTA later. The task force pivots its policy on establishing common security and economic policies. The three nations' borders are no longer to be their own, but subordinated to the "North American" criteria. By 2010, a "common security perimeter" is to be established, "rethinking management of the borders," merging defense, law enforcement, intelligence, security force training, as well as adopting "common approaches toward international negotiations on the global movement of people, cargo, and vessels," and imposing the same visa and asylum regulations, so that by 2010, there would be "harmonized entry screening and tracking procedures for people, goods, and vessels." Eventually, they insist, "a broader defense structure for the continent" is required. One of the wildest proposals, is that only people who could "pay the costs for a security clearance" be granted the proposed "North American border pass," allowing expedited passage throughout all three countries. Placing the citizens of all three countries under the military boot of a North American community, is intertwined with plans to establish unlimited private looting of resources. Their idea, is that NAFTA didn't go nearly far enough. To secure NAFTA'S passage back in 1994, over fierce objections from nationalist forces in all three countries, trade in natural resources, agriculture, and energy was largely excluded. Now, the financiers demand access to them. And, the private sector is key to doing this. A "North American Resource Strategy" must be developed, they argue, to grab resources more efficiently. The great energy grab is the most critical, but "trade in other natural resources, including metals, minerals, wood, and other products, is also central." Repeatedly, the CFR et al. target Mexico, for failing to carry out "significant reforms in its tax and energy policies" to suit these private interests. Mexico must "reorient its economic policies," "dramatically expanding investment and productivity in the energy sector." That means changing Mexico's Constitution, whose "restrictions on ownership, which are driven by an understandable [!] desire to see this strategic asset used for the benefit of Mexicans," have "hampered" development of its oil and gas reserves. "The inclination of Mexico to retain full ownership of its strategic resources is understandable," but the (alleged) resulting inefficiencies require "the development of creative mechanisms, especially financial," to get that foreign capital and technology into Mexico's oil sector. [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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In this edition of Democracy Now! Amy Goodmand and Juan Gonzales interview John Gibler, independet journalist reporting from Oaxaca, Mexico. Where an uprising is taking place. We have to know that this uprising will seal the fate of the illegitimate government of Felipe Calderon. Because if they remove the governor Ulises Ruiz, the political party PRI, will not backup the electoral fraud, then in december first, they will join Lopez Obrador's party (PRD) and stop Calderon from taking power. Democracy Now! 04/10/06: Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dgr2_H5AOY [+/-] Hide/Show this post

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