MEXICO: Uprising Rekindled in Oaxaca?

[struggle4progress]

By Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Jun 25 (IPS) - Hundreds of delegates of social movements in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca have once again occupied the central square of the state capital for the past week, threatening to take more radical actions if their demands are not addressed.

A six-month social uprising demanding that Governor Ulises Ruiz, who is accused of corruption, authoritarianism, squelching opposition by means of violence and intimidation and undue use of force against peaceful demonstrators, step down or be removed came to an end in late 2006 when the president sent in federal troops.

"Obviously we do not have the same strength as before, but we are growing, and it will be the government’s response that will define the new routes and actions to be taken," Florentino López, spokesman for the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), told IPS. ~snip~

The 2006 uprising, which started out as a strike by teachers who were later joined by hundreds of social organisations, dragged on for over six months and left more than a dozen people dead, 370 injured and 350 under arrest, mainly in police sweeps that included excesses and abuses against demonstrators and even passersby, according to human rights groups. ~snip~

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38312