 |
|
|
 Editorials | At Issue | September 2006 
A Strike by Teachers in Oaxaca Snowballs into Raging Rebellion
 Chris Hawley - Arizona Republic
| | A man holds a baby next to an improvised barricade in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico, last month. Tensions are high in this protest-paralyzed city. (Eduardo Verdugo/Associated Press) |
Oaxaca, Mexico - This is a city on the edge of anarchy.
Militants with clubs roam Oaxaca, raiding government offices and dragging out employees who refuse to leave. Barricades and torched vehicles block the streets. Police have fled the city, and the governor is in hiding. The once-beautiful downtown is covered with revolutionary graffiti.
"Tourist, go home," one message warns.
The antigovernment rebellion raging in this city of 256,000 is the most serious in a series of protests that have rattled Mexico, fueled in part by a bitter July 2 presidential election. Officials are meeting to try to work out a truce.
"The government wants everyone to think that Mexico is progressing," Rosie Lopez said as she guarded a barricade made of sheet metal and boulders. "But a lot of people still live in very bad conditions. We're not satisfied with the way this country is being run."
Seizing control
The siege in Oaxaca, 210 miles southeast of Mexico City, began in May as a teachers strike but snowballed after Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz used tear gas and riot police against the demonstrators.
Since then, dozens of leftist groups have rallied to the teachers' side and are demanding that the governor resign.
They have formed an umbrella group, the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), and have seized control of the entire city.
Oaxaca (pronounced wah-HA-kah) is the capital of a state with the same name. It's an impoverished, mountainous region peppered with tiny Indian villages.
The state's schools are run down and badly equipped, and teachers earn only about $500 a month. Because the towns are so remote, many teachers spend weekdays at the schools and return to their families only on weekends, or sometimes every two weeks.
For several summers straight, the state's 70,000 teachers have demonstrated in the state capital to demand higher wages and better working conditions. This year, their main demand was an increase in the cost-of-living allowance.
On May 22, union members began camping out in the capital's main plaza. As the protests began growing more rowdy, tourists started avoiding the city. Ortiz decided to take action.
Fighting back
Before dawn on June 14, riot police fired tear gas into the plaza and began tearing down tents. The teachers fled down side streets.
"It was terrifying," teacher Liboria Martinez said. "A lot of us had our children with us, and they were suffocating on the tear gas."
Soon, the tide of the battle turned. Members of other labor unions flooded into the streets to attack the police with sticks and stones. Outnumbered, the police retreated.
The conflict quickly became a rallying point for radical political parties, student activists and trade unionists. It also attracted local people's organizations, groups that represent squatters, unauthorized street vendors, and outlaws.
Oaxaca now lives in a peculiar state of occupation. During the day, the few remaining tourists, mainly young European backpackers, browse through handicraft stalls. Just a few miles away, club-wielding militants from APPO's mobile brigades systematically invade government offices and drive out employees.
The governor and Legislature are in hiding, reportedly moving among hotels and private homes on the outskirts of town.
At night, the militants mount barricades all over the city. Earsplitting booms from signal rockets echo over the downtown all night. One boom is an alert for government forces; two booms means imminent danger; and three means a barricade is under attack.
Seeking a truce
Petty crime has soared, especially at night, because police have fled the city. The militants have torched several police cars, along with more than a dozen city buses.
There are fears that things could get much worse after guerrillas carrying assault rifles briefly blocked a highway in Oaxaca last month. The federal government is now trying to mediate a truce. The negotiations resumed Tuesday after a four-day break.
Like most of the poor states in southern Mexico, Oaxaca voted overwhelmingly for liberal candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in the July 2 presidential election. When conservative Felipe Calderon won by a razor-thin margin, Lopez Obrador's supporters accused the government of massive voter fraud and blockaded a main avenue in Mexico City, causing havoc.
The clashes and demonstrations have exposed simmering discontent in Mexico, especially in the poor south. About 40% of the country still lives below the poverty line. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us