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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2006 
First Efforts Fail, but Oaxaca Negotiations to Continue
 E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
| | Striking teachers and protesters supporting the teachers movement sit next to closed businesses in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico on Tuesday Aug. 29, 2006. Hundreds of Oaxacan schools, supermarkets, banks, bakeries and restaurants closed their doors Tuesday in a one-day strike organized by business leaders to protest the ongoing disruption to their daily lives and commerce due to the violence and unrest caused by striking teachers demanding the resignation of the state governor. (AP /Luis Alberto Cruz) |
Striking teachers and state officials finished their first day of federally mediated negotiations Tuesday without an agreement to end the violence that has driven tourists away from the colonial city of Oaxaca for more than three months.
The talks, which did not appear to have achieved any concessions, are scheduled to resume Thursday.
"In the talks, the importance of revisiting and maintaining dialogue so as to reach solutions that efficiently benefit the Oaxaca people was clear," the Interior Department said in a statement.
Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal personally oversaw negotiations at his department's offices in Mexico City and said he would participate when talks resume.
In its own news release, a group formed to oversee massive protests gripping Oaxaca city, the capital of the state of the same name, said it would hold a series of meetings with supporters to decide its next move.
The protests began in May with a teachers' strike for higher wages but have ballooned into a political battle against state Gov. Ulises Ruiz.
At least 40,000 teachers demanding pay raises have occupied Oaxaca's leafy central plaza since May in a protest that grew much larger after Ruiz sent police to evict the strikers. Thousands of leftists, anarchists and students have joined in, burning city buses, erecting hundreds of street barricades and covering buildings with graffiti. Two people have been killed and dozens more injured.
As negotiations got under way Tuesday, hundreds of Oaxacan schools, supermarkets, banks, bakeries and restaurants closed their doors in a one-day strike organized by business leaders to protest the ongoing disruption of their daily lives and commerce. Many attached white bows and flags to their shuttered entrances in a plea to end the conflict.
Organizers claimed 95 percent of businesses were shuttered throughout Oaxaca city and the work stoppage cost more than $6 million in lost profits.
"This demonstrates that the citizenry in general is showing its rejection of violence and that it wants peace and social stability," said Jose Escobar, head of the Oaxaca chapter of a national business association.
President Vicente Fox has refused to push Mexico's Senate for Ruiz's ouster, saying only elections should determine who serves as governor.
But Abascal, the president's top Cabinet official, agreed last week to have federal officials try to mediate an end to the standoff. And Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, confirmed Tuesday that Ruiz's potential resignation will be brought up in the talks.
Famous for its Indian cultures, crafts and varied cuisine, Oaxaca city is normally one of Mexico's top travel destinations, but tourists have shied away since the protests began.
More than 1 million public-school children across the state have been shut out of classes since the beginning of the strike and many private schools also closed their doors.
Associated Press reporter Rebeca Romero in Oaxaca, Mexico, contributed to this report.
Businesses Strike in Oaxaca
Reuters
Oaxaca, Mexico - Stores, restaurants and other businesses in this popular tourist city went on a 24-hour strike on Tuesday to demand an end to blockades and violence, as the government tried to kick-start peace negotiations.
Three months of demonstrations aimed at toppling Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz spiraled out of control last week when gunmen believed to be off-duty police twice opened fire on protesters, killing one person. Five people have been killed this month.
The city's tourism-based economy has greatly suffered, as normally stunning colonial facades are defaced with graffiti and angry activists armed with sticks and burning tires have replaced colorful Indian markets in the central plaza.
In response to the deteriorating crisis, businessmen hung white flags over the locked doors of supermarkets, banks and restaurants on Tuesday, and called on President Vicente Fox and Ruiz to restore order.
"We demand security for our economic and social activities, without which Oaxaca will not return to the path of growth," they said in national newspaper ads, complaining protests by striking teachers were costing jobs and sales and shutting thousands of schools.
The flocks of travelers who come to Oaxaca to drink the region's fiery Mezcal liquor and soak up the city's lively art scene have dwindled in recent months.
Long queues formed at stores and gas stations on the eve of the strike as people stocked up on basic items. On Tuesday, the streets, normally buzzing with activity, were deserted as even locals stayed in their homes.
The businessmen's strike involves 20,000 workers and a loss of nearly $6 million in revenue, according to Eduardo Garcia Moreno, head of Oaxaca's chamber of commerce.
Many residents hope the one-day strike will help bring an end to the current mayhem by prompting action from federal authorities.
In Mexico City, leaders of the Oaxacan People's Popular Assembly and the teachers union met on Tuesday with state representatives and federal government mediators to try to reach agreement to end the protests.
After several hours, talks were called off until Thursday. Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said the negotiations included discussion of demands that Ruiz step down.
Critics say the governor has ridden roughshod over his critics, using riot police to resolve conflicts.
The protests began as a peaceful sit-in strike by about 40,000 teachers demanding higher pay, but have escalated in recent weeks with anti-Ruiz demonstrators seizing local radio stations, barricading roads and burning buses.
The violence has heightened tensions as Mexico is already embroiled in a crisis over fraud allegations in last month's presidential election. |
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