The following are reports from three separate marches that took place in Oaxaca City in the final week before the 7th MegaMarch, which witnessed, once again, the unleashing of a brutal repression against the Oaxacan movement that continues today despite claims by the government that peace has once again returned to Oaxaca. Violence continues to be provoked by the Federal Preventative Police’s (PFP) continued occupation of the city’s zócalo, and on November 25th it exploded into violence that left nearly 40 buildings ablaze, the use of firearms against the people by the PFP and paramilitaries, and subsequent raids and arbitrary detentions that have forced the movement’s militants and sympathizers underground. Following these reports is a brief analysis of the situation in Oaxaca in the context of Mexico´s national crisis of legitimacy:

Today, shortly before 1 p.m., a march led by hundreds of women left the APPO encampment in Santo Domingo for the barricades of the PFP in the zócalo in a creative and peaceful protest against recent sexual abuses that have been committed at the hands of these federal officers.

Three days ago, this Thursday November 16th, a 48 year-old woman from Oaxaca was stopped by PFP agents at one of the checkpoints they have established around the city’s central square. Telling her that they needed to search her bags, they took her behind a large dumpster and began to sexually assault her verbally and physically, whispering in her ears while they touched her breasts and vagina. Her shouts went unheeded in the city’s center which is entirely occupied by these federal troops ostensibly sent to ‘establish order’. Although this is the first such denouncement, human rights defenders indicate that it is likely indicative of a series of such abuses similar to those committed earlier this year in San Salvador Atenco, where 26 women were raped by local and federal police.

The women marched the two blocks to the barricades and confronted the PFP with skillets and mirrors covered with the words ‘rapists’ and ‘cowards’ so that they could see for themselves what they look like. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, federal officers soon began spraying pepper spray at a number of the demonstrators and journalists. Calling for people not to fall into such provocations, the march moved to the next occupied intersection where they put on a bit of street theater to reenact the events of this past Thursday in front of the ranks of riot police. At the end, members of the PFP joined in applause in this act condemning their very presence and complicity in the continuing repression against the Oaxacan social movement. Immediately afterwards, backed up by their tanks armed with high pressure water canons, they moved their ranks forward to push the demonstrators out of the intersection.

Before the threats of the water canons, the demonstrators stayed in the intersection confronting the PFP with mirrors while a number of women spoke condemning the presence of the occupying force, urging them to recognize their complicity in the government’s repression of the social movement, made up of people much like themselves. In a letter to the PFP which was read aloud and pasted on the walls where the march passed, women and mothers wrote, "our sons and daughters and ourselves are on this side because we are pueblo, and we are with the pueblo because our morals impel us, and the conditions that we live in demand it of us. On the contrary, you all are with the government of the rich, with the tyranny of the powerful, and you all are their army even though you all, and your children and your wives and your parents are, like ourselves, pueblo."

Afterwards, with the chants Oaxaca no es burdel, fuera el ejército de él (Oaxaca is not a brothel, out with the army), the march headed back towards Santo Domingo, which has been occupied by the APPO since October 29th, when federal forces entered and re-took the zócalo held by the Section XXII of the teacher’s union since May 22nd. The city center was briefly and violently taken by police on June 14th, but it was quickly retaken and the violence sparked the formation of the APPO – compose of hundreds of individuals, collectives and social organizations – which had occupied the zócalo ever since.

Today’s march was one of many that have been called by the APPO to demand the renunciation of governor Ulises Ruíz Ortiz, and for the end of violence and coordinated repression against the movement. Since the movement began more than 5 months ago there have been more than 17 assassinations, and the lists of detained and disappeared continue to grow, with at least 30 people currently unaccounted for. Aggressions have intensified greatly since the entrance of federal forces three weeks ago, and have sparked a national and international outcry to end the violence and repression. The movement is now markedly national in its character as there have been attempts to convene the Popular Assembly of the People of Mexico. Tensions will continue to grow, with national acts of solidarity being called for by the APPO and the Zapatista’s Otra Campaña, among others, for tomorrow, November 20th, which will coincide with Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s inauguration as the ‘legitimate president of Mexico’ following July’s highly disputed federal elections. Futhermore, for months the APPO has declared that if Ulises Ruíz does not step down, Felipe Calderón, the declared winner of the federal presidential elections, will not come to power. One way or another, much will be decided about the future of Mexico in the coming weeks.

As is the custom these days in Oaxaca, the informed people of Oaxaca wake up listening to the broadcast of Radio Universidad, despite the insufferable interference attempting to take away the people’s primary means of organization.

At 9 o’clock this morning the broadcast began, calling for people to concentrate in ‘IEEPO’ in a march towards Oaxaca City’s zócalo to demand the renunciation of state governor Ulises Ruíz Ortiz and to demonstrate against the continued presence of the PFP and the continued repression that is victimizing the people of Oaxaca.

The march began around 12 noon with approximately 1,000 people, other groups joined as the march passed the baseball stadium, and as it approached the zócalo it appeared at least 2,000 strong. A trail of graffiti was left in its path with slogans demanding the renunciation of Ulises Ruíz, and end to the PFP’s occupation of the city and the continued repression against the people of Oaxaca – transnationals such as McDonalds and government offices in particular were targeted.

Around 1:30 p.m., as the march passed and demonstrated in front of the PFP blockades on the streets Macedonio Alcalá and García Vigil, the PFP launched the first tear gas bombs, which were immediately returned by groups of young people in order to secure the demonstration.

After being dispersed by the gas, the demonstration reorganized and divided up between three corners on Matamoros street: García Vigil, Macedonio Alcalá and 5 de Mayo. Each group sought to obstruct the advance of the PFP towards the streets around the Santo Domingo plaza and the APPO encampment. The police began with the gas, although shortly after came the marbles, and gases along with rocks; and the demonstrators responded in form with fireworks, bottle rockets and stones, shielding themselves with an improvised barricade. From the roofs of nearby buildings, police threw rocks and more gas at the demonstrators which were returned in like form – and so begun the battle that lasted around 4 hours.

On three separate occasions, the police advanced running towards the barricades after bombarding the demonstrators with tear gas, only reaching the barricade on one occasion, although the quickly retreated and the demonstrators retook the barricade.
On García Vigil street, groups of demonstrators decided to block the intersections with buses. The first bus was placed at the intersection of García Vigil and Matamoros, and when they came with a second, two demonstrators driving the bus were detained by police, though the bus remained blocking the intersection. Afterwords, another bus was commandeered and placed a few blocks away at the intersection of García Vigil and Allende where it was set afire a few moments later.

At 4 in the afternoon, a press conference was held one of the corners by the Santo Domingo plaza, where a spokesperson from a human rights organization and the APPO reported another public denouncement from a woman of 33 years, who was sexually violated by members of the PFP while she was searched near the historic center, just as happened with a 48 year-old woman just four days ago. Also reiterated was the support for the various forms of struggle that comprise this movement, which range from the encampment in Mexico City to that of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca City, along with the barricades around the university campus, the state assemblies, and the various meetings that are being held with other organizations to reinforce alliances in this struggle.

Regarding the return to classes at the Autonomous University Benito Juárez of Oaxaca (UABJO), representatives of the APPO made clear that that is a decision that needs to be evaluated by the university community. This is also the case with the barricades at Soriana, Radio Universidad, and 5 Señores, which are spaces for the people in resistance, and which function in a manner autonomous from the decisions of the APPO. All of these situations depend on the people, the neighborhoods and the young people who defend them who, day to day, evaluate the situation of the besieged state of this city.

Slightly after 4 o’clock in the afternoon, negotiations began between representatives of human rights organizations and members of the PFP in charge of the operative, and in this manner the withdrawal of both sides was negotiated, along with the release of some of those detained. In total, the day’s violence left approximately 9 people detained and some 15 injured, among them 3 minors. One of the detainees that has been confirmed is Elud Amni Martínez Sánchez, and the rest have yet to be officially confirmed. Beyond the wounded and detained, the violence continues to exhaust a people that have already demonstrated their rejection of such violence as a response to their legitimate demands, which stem from the widespread inequality and poverty throughout the state.
The APPO’s plan of actions continues as planned, and it is hoped that on November 25th, caravans from 7 different parts of the state will arrive in the capital city for the 7th Mega March to reiterate its principal demands:

-The renunciation of state governor Ulises Ruíz Ortíz
-Freedom for all of the movement’s political prisoners
-The immediate withdrawal of the PFP from Oaxaca City

Once again the people of Oaxaca are rising up, indignant in the face of the impunity and injustice that prevail in the state, and refuse to withdraw their demands, calling for national and international society to join their struggle for a dignified life.

Yesterday, shortly before 11 a.m., hundreds of thousands of people left from the Casa del Gobierno in Santa María Coyotepec in the 7th MegaMarch since the beginning of the conflict in Oaxaca more than 6 months ago. Caravans from all 8 regions of the state arrived to march on the zócalo form a human chain around the PFP who since October 29th has occupied the city’s central square. The march, convened by the APPO was the seventh of its kind and, along with a 20-day march to Mexico City, various hunger strikes, fasts, barricades and a number of other forms of civil resistance, is yet another demonstration of the massive discontent among Oaxacans towards the state and federal governments for failing to recognize the APPO’s primary demands: the immediate renunciation of state governor Ulíses Ruíz Ortiz, the withdrawal of the occupation forces of the PFP, freedom for all political prisoners, and the presentation of all of those who have been disappeared.

As the march advanced towards the historic center of Oaxaca City thousands more joined in San Bartolo and other points along the march, which at one point extended more than 6 kilometers along the highway. In this massive action the APPO demonstrated its commitment to a civil and peaceful resistance, while at the same time affirming the peoples’ right to self-defense in the event of repression by the federal forces. Further confirming claims that the presence of the PFP has only intensified repression against the movement, as much from paramilitary forces as the federal police themselves, the previous night APPO spokesperson César Mateos Benítez and Jorge Sosa Campos were kidnapped and disappeared by government supported paramilitaries. The incident provoked further rage in a people who, in addition to living in a state with the second highest level of poverty and massive inequality, renowned for its brutal repression of social movements, have suffered severe persecution since this movement began on May 22nd.

Contrary to their stated purpose of establishing ‘peace’ and ‘order’, the presence of the PFP has only added to the repression against the movement which, before yesterday, had already suffered at least 17 assassinations, 114 arbitrary detentions (at least 17 of whom remain incarcerated), more than 28 disappearances, various documented cases of torture, nearly 120 raids of houses pertaining to the movement’s members, and illegal interference and attacks against the movements legitimately established radio, Radio Universidad, which is its primary means of communication. In addition to the 4 direct confrontations between demonstrators and the PFP, repeated armed attacks on the barricades protecting the University complex (CU) and constant patrols of the city, there have already been at least 2 reported cases of its members sexually assaulting women as they pass through the checkpoints they have established around the zócalo. Human rights organizations attribute this systematic repression to what appears to be a massive coordination between local, state, and federal police forces together with the army, navy and intelligence organizations, orchestrated together with mass media outlets in order to defame and suppress this legitimate form of social protest.

At around 2:30 p.m. yesterday the march, which by some estimates was nearly 1 million strong, arrived at the city’s center after marching the 8 kilometers from Santa María Coyotepec and began to surround the zócalo, concentrating in a number of intersections around the PFP to demand that they leave Oaxaca. Exchanges between demonstrators and the PFP were mostly verbal at first but soon turned violent amidst claims that the PFP were launching marbles, which the demonstrators responded to in a similar fashion throwing rocks at the lines of police. Around 4:30 p.m., these interchanges escalated as police began launching teargas and more marbles at APPO members on Alcalá street, beginning another prolonged and violent confrontation. Twice, the police advanced from the zócalo to the APPO encampment in Santo Domingo, launching teargas and marbles from the streets and the roofs, which demonstrators responded to by launching rocks with slingshots, large bottle rockets fired out of homemade bazookas and molotov cocktails. As they made these advances attempting to surround the demonstrators, people were detained and beaten en masse and several times tried to reorganize and advance once more towards the zócalo where the police were located, though each time with fewer and fewer people. Despite attempts to stall the advance of the federal forces by commandeering buses and trucks to block the intersections, demonstrators ultimately failed to take any more ground. In the final advances on these streets at around 7:30 p.m., members of the PFP shot at the demonstrators with 9mm firearms – used exclusively by the military – hitting at least one demonstrator in the leg.

Dispersed and further enraged, those who remained broke into various groups some of which set fire to vehicles, businesses and government offices including the Secretary of Tourism, the State Supreme Court, and the Federal Courthouse. "If this government doesn’t want to leave, we’ll have to make them leave ourselves", one demonstrator was quoted as saying, explaining why they were setting fire to these offices. Caravans of PFP circulated through the city surrounding, detaining and beating those who remained in the streets. Though numbers are unconfirmed at this point, the violence appears to have left at least 3 more people dead, another 100 detained or disappeared and more than 100 wounded, 20 from gunshot wounds. In addition to the PFP the ‘caravan of death’, heavily armed paramilitaries in unmarked pickups, was also circulating through all parts of the city harassing and shooting at those who remained in the streets and in safe houses, with at least 60 shots fired in the colonia of Xochimilco alone.

Today 3,000 additional elements of the AFI and PFP arrived in the city, it was announced that the more than 200 arrest warrants against members of the movement would be put into effect – once again using government provoked violence as a pretext to discredit and dismantle the movement. Patrols and arbitrary detentions continue today, and with the arrival of more federal forces, more operatives, raids and repression are likely to follow.

Amidst accusations that many of the direct confrontations with the PFP were provoked by a violent minority, it is important to understand how, in this context, the mere presence of these military-police forces occupying the city’s zócalo must be understood as provocation. When the government responds with repression to the simple demands of education, self-determination and a dignified life, and when on the one hand they pretend to negotiate while at the same time send federal police and military forces to the state – what options are the people left with?

Recalling 6 months back when the teachers of Section XXII of the National Union of Educational Workers went on strike to demand better salaries and working conditions in what is one of the poorest states in all of Mexico, it was similar repression by state police that sparked the formation of the APPO. Although the roots of the APPO are in that democratic teacher’s movement, it is now much broader in scope, yet repression remains the only answer that the government gives to their legitimate demands. As one of the graffiti left in the march’s trail read, ‘if you sow repression, you will reap rebellion’, and since this repression in Oaxaca, like that of Sicartsa and Atenco, seems to be the model that incoming president Felipe Calderón will implement, it remains to be seen what these next 6 years will bring.

Today in Oaxaca, arbitrary detentions continue as the PFP in conjunction with state and local police forces have been carrying out arrest warrants, which are said to number more than 300 – detaining people on the streets and raiding houses where militants are supposedly in hiding. More than 141 of those being held have been transported to federal prisons in Nayarit, Las Palmas, and other maximum security installations, and the list of disappeared is now said to exceed 100 – but the toll of this repression in Oaxaca stretches much further than its borders. Time and time again attempts at negotiation by the APPO have been blocked by the state and federal governments, or at best given frivolous treatment. A couple months ago when the APPO was at the negotiating table with the Department of the Interior (Secretaría de Gobernación) the federal government, at the same time it was supposedly negotiating, was sending elements of the PFP, Army and Navy to Oaxaca. Just a few days ago when talks began to open up again, APPO spokespeople Flavio Sosa and Marcelino Coache, along with two others, were detained in Mexico City in an operative carried out by AFI. When the government can only answer the demands of its people with brutal repression and propaganda campaigns to dismiss the legitimacy of their causes, social movements – not just in Oaxaca but throughout the country – are left with few viable means for change.

Sicartsa, Atenco, Oaxaca, Ch´ol de Tumbala and Viejo Velasco to name a few. Each of these cases exists in a particular context, but at the same time each one is subject to the macroeconomic forces that are at play throughout the country – big business, foreign capital, development projects, bio-prospecting – all of these are part of a larger structure of the broader interests of capital. As a result, repression continues to rise against organized campesino organizations and social movements struggling to affirm their basic human rights, and who recognize that their lives have no market value and therefore are of little interest to those who are spearheading these development projects. Such repression is particularly visible in southern Mexico, in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, which are three of the poorest states in the country despite being the largest source of natural resource extraction and exploitation, leading to continued militarization and paramilitarization of these regions and brutal repression of social movements that seek to challenge the primacy of foreign capital interests.

Many people view this latest and most brutal wave of repression as the first act of incoming president, Felipe Calderón. This past week Calderón took power in an unprecedented manner, with a midnight ceremony with outgoing president Vicente Fox that was broadcast over the commercial television networks, the ceremony hardly lasted 3 minutes in Congress where days before Congresspeople and Senators were literally brawling on the House floor. The PRD senators had blocked all but one entrance to the Senate to protest Calderón´s taking power from elections that they maintain were fraudulent, and some 3,000 federal police surrounded Congress to ensure that the massive mobilizations in the streets would not further effect the already tense situation in the building. From the beginning Calderón has assured that he will rule with a firm hand, and will continue to usher in privatizing neoliberal reforms which are the point of contention for the burgeoning social movements throughout Mexico.

A couple months ago, Calderón attended a secret meeting in Canada along with high ranking government, business and military officials from the United States and other countries to discuss economic development plans. Additionally, one of the first meetings that he has convened is to discuss Plan Puebla Panama, a high profile development plan stretching from Mexico City through all of Mesoamerica that includes massive highway projects, bioprospecting in the most biodiverse regions, the construction of more ports, pipelines to streamline natural gas and petroleum extraction and a number of other privatization projects that favor the interests of foreign capital over the region’s inhabitants.

His ascension to power amidst such brutal repression in Oaxaca and an unprecedented militarization of Congress seems to foreshadow the way that he will preside over the country – supporting capital over human interests and only negotiating at the barrel of a gun. As peaceful and legal means of achieving social change in the country continue to be closed off, campesino and social organizations are finding fewer and fewer ways to redress the grave economic and social issues that are ravaging their communities. Amidst growing state terrorism and repression, people who have for years refused to submit themselves to the development projects imposed on them from above will be faced with more difficult decisions in these coming years. While those in power hedge their bets that they will be able to steamroll the will of the people by closing off legal and peaceful means for dialogue and change, the 34 armed guerilla groups throughout the country may well come back into play if the state institutions can’t find room to redress the peoples’ legitimate interests.