Oaxacan Protests

Well, it finally happened. The barbarians have been at the gates for months, and they finally bit the bullet and got on with it.

Two days ago, the Mexican federal government sent in federal police and the army to quell the protests turned insurgency in Oaxaca. After months of stalling on the issue, the ruling PAN has finally been forced into action. And big surprise that it took the death of an American to prompt this decisive move.

Until now, the PAN has done nothing to quell the growing insurgency, and for very good reasons. The protesters have been demanding the resignation Oaxacan “boss hog” Governer Ulises Ruiz – patriarch of the PRI dominated state wide political machine that stole him the election two years ago and for months has carried out a campaign of repression against those Oaxacans who dare fight for their democratic rights. Allowing the once (federally) hegemonic PRI to shoot down teachers and protesters in the streets was good politics for the PAN, who’s electoral bones were made as the first democratic government after 70 years of PRI rule. By allowing the PRI to carry out violent repression against protesters in order to cement their state-wide political supremacy, the PAN was handing out the PRI just enough rope to hang themselves. But all of that changed when Bradley Roland Will, a journalist form New York, was shot dead during clashes between protesters and state police. It was this, after months of violence, prompted the PAN to act, sending in thousands of federal police and army units to quell the violence.

What does this mean for civil rights in Mexico? It depends on exactly what the mandate is of those federal police. It has been obvious that some intervention was necessary to diffuse the crises. And truthfully, I believe it is entirely possible to take action that was consistent in the promotion of rights in Oaxaca. An equitable solution might be for the feds to demand the resignation of Ruiz and a state-wide investigation of his stolen election in return for an immediate end to the teachers strike (and an immediate return to negotiations) and the demobilization of the protesters/insurgents.

However, this may be wishful thinking. Any “solution” that begins with the overwhelming use of force against protesters, but leaves the repressive state forces intact and Ruiz in office should be viewed as a tacit alliance, albeit a regional one, with the PRI. It would mean that despite their rhetoric of democracy, the PAN are willing to give the PRI a free hand in it’s repression of the Oaxacan people so long as they maintain order and stability (which should be read as, so long as Washington does not complain). The irony is that eyewitnesses are already pointing the finger at local police as the potential assassins of Mr. Will, and yet it seems likely that not they, but the protesters will be the first to get shut down. Kinda like the “windmill” manoever, in which one swings their arms rapidly while walking towards a stationary target, only to chastise the victim for failing to avoid one’s flailing fists of fury.

Love

Bob J. Neubauer

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