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 Editorials | Issues | October 2006 
Resolution OK´d, but Ruiz Skewered
 Jonathan Roeder - The Herald Mexico
| | Fake coffins are placed near the Mexican federal riot police during a protest as members of the Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) rally outside the National Action Party (PAN) headquarters in Mexico City calling for the resignation of State Governor Ulises Ruiz October 19, 2006. (Reuters/Henry Romero) |
Despite months of unrest in Oaxaca that have led to at an estimated 11 deaths, the Senate decided against dissolving Oaxaca´s government on Thursday.
Senators voted 74 to 31 along party lines in favor of a resolution arguing that the Senate lacks the authority to remove Gov. Ulises Ruiz and it can only replace him if the state government has ceased to function. Oaxaca´s administration was still working on a limited level, concluded senators who had traveled to the troubled state on a fact-finding mission.
Of the three major parties, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN) supported the resolution, while the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) opposed it.
Despite their decision not to remove Gov. Ruiz, PAN senators criticized the governor for failing to maintain control of his state and suggested a peaceful solution would be easier if he left office.
Ruiz has refused to step down, instead calling for military and federal police to take control of the state capital, Oaxaca City. Much of the city is controlled by teachers and activists who are demanding Ruiz be removed, while police have pulled out and public officials have abandoned their offices or been forced out.
PAN Sen. Alejandro Zapata said Ruiz was "incapable of governing, negligent and clumsy." But he said the branches of government continued to function in the state, albeit irregularly.
"We can´t close our eyes to the state´s reality, but we can´t break the law either," Zapata said. "Unfortunately, this situation has gone beyond our authority."
The PAN also expressed confidence that Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal, who has directed negotiations with the protesters, was still capable of reaching a solution through dialogue.
The PRD argued that leaving Ruiz in power will lead to "more blood and more deaths."
"(The PRI and the PAN) are giving a blank check to Ulises Ruiz so he can settle scores in Oaxaca," said PRD Sen. Salomón Jara, sugesting Ruiz would use paramilitary groups to attack those who oppose him.
Since the unrest in the state began, armed individuals have opened fire on protesters on several occasions, leading to 11 deaths and dozens of injuries.
Jara saidlegislators from the Progressive United Front - a coalition formed by the PRD with the Convergence and Labor parties - would travel to Oaxaca on Friday "to tell the people the Senate could not fulfill its duty."
Carlos Ramírez, a political columnist and a representative of civil society participating in the government negotiations with the teachers and the APPO, wrote this week that the nation´s laws on removing politicians don´t work because they were designed by the PRI, which ruled in authoritarian fashion for decades.
"Mexicans must recognize that this country, with its new social forces, cannot be governed by the institutions, laws, regulations and protocols of the old PRI regime," Ramírez wrote in a column appearing in El Financiero.
Also on Thursday, thousands in Oaxaca City marched in protest of the recent deaths and to demand Ruiz leave office.
"This isn´t anarchy, this is a social movement that is going to benefit society," said a student in the demonstration who did not give his name. "We want the wealth of the community to be distributed equally, but we aren´t communists or socialists." |
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