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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2006 
Panic Shopping in Mexico's Oaxaca as Crisis Deepens
 Eduardo Quiros - Reuters
| | A young man fills a plastic tank with gasoline at a gas station in Oaxaca, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006. Storekeepers proclaimed a 48-hour strike demanding a resolution to the teachers conflict in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) |
Hundreds of cars lined up at gas stations in the protest-torn Mexican city of Oaxaca on Wednesday as tensions rose before a 48-hour business shutdown expected to bring the tourist hot spot to a standstill.
Motorists and shoppers rushed to make last-minute purchases before gas stations, stores and shopping malls close on Thursday to pressure the federal government to end a four-month conflict between state Gov. Ulises Ruiz and protesters who want him to resign.
In recent weeks, gunmen suspected of being off-duty policemen have shot protesters manning blockades such as the ones around the city's graceful central plaza. Five people have been killed in drive-by shootings and ambushes.
Ruiz, who his opponents say ordered the shootings, refuses to resign and wants federal police to end the protests, which have emptied the city center of tourists and left elegant buildings daubed with graffiti.
President Vicente Fox has vowed to end the crisis before he leaves office at the end of November but there is no sign he is pressuring Ruiz to step down and his government said force would be used only if talks failed. Human rights groups say Ruiz has ridden roughshod over his critics and used riot police to resolve political conflicts.
Stick-waving protesters reinforced street barricades on Wednesday and made Molotov cocktails in preparation for a possible police offensive.
Shoppers waiting in long lines outside a gas station said they were tired of the conflict.
"This has been going on for too long, it's time the federal government put an end to it," said salesman Armando Garcia in a line several hundred yards (meters) long to buy fuel.
The protests started with a teachers' strike over wages and against the governor. The teachers, who on Wednesday voted not to return to classes despite being threatened with the loss of their jobs, have been joined by left-wing groups opposed to Ruiz.
On Sunday, the U.S. State Department extended for another month its warning against U.S. citizens traveling to Oaxaca, although Mexico insists there have been no problems for tourists. |
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