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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2006 
Fox Orders Federal Forces to Mexico's Oaxaca Crisis
 Noel Randewich - Reuters
| | A member of the Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) uses a slingshot during a shooting near a barricade in Oaxaca City October 27, 2006. (Reuters/Daniel Aguilar) |
Mexican President Vicente Fox ordered federal forces to be sent to the conflict-torn city of Oaxaca on Saturday, after gunmen shot dead three people including a U.S. journalist.
The president's office said in a statement the forces would arrive in the city during the course of the day. It did not specify whether federal police, soldiers or a mixture of the two would be involved in the operation.
On Friday, at least two prolonged shootouts against protesters killed three people, including U.S. independent journalist Brad Will.
Nine people, mostly protesters, have been killed in a conflict that began in Oaxaca five months ago, when striking teachers and leftist activists occupied much of the colonial city, storming Congress and blocking streets in an effort to oust state Gov. Ulises Ruiz.
The conflict has escalated with increasingly frequent drive-by style gun attacks against protesters' barricades in the city, famous for its architecture, cuisine and indigenous crafts.
Critics accuse the governor of corruption and repressive tactics against dissenters, whose roadblocks have driven tourism from the city and hurt business.
The protesters say Ruiz is behind the shootings.
A Reuters photographer at one of the shootouts on Friday said the violence started when protesters came under fire after blocking highways and burning vehicles.
He said protesters' weapons were limited to powerful fireworks, rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Fox has been under pressure for weeks from Ruiz and local businessmen to send in federal police or the army to regain control of Oaxaca, but until now he refused to do so, opting instead to search for a negotiated solution.
This week, striking teachers voted to return to classes but many protesters say they will not back down until Ruiz, who blames the protesters for the violence, is ousted.
It is unusual for federal forces to be sent to resolve conflicts in Mexican states, which are the jurisdiction of local police. Last year federal police took control of the city of Nuevo Laredo, after an explosion of violence between rival drug gangs.
Uniformed police have not entered the center of Oaxaca since being fought off by protesters during a failed attempt in June to break up a protest camp in the city's central square.
The protesters have built hundreds of barricades from rocks, barbed-wire and burned-out vehicles, and could try to stop the federal forces entering the city. |
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