MASSACRE IN OAXACA: Indymedia Video Journalist Killed

[Wiley50]

Right now, in this very moment, state policemen dressed
in civil clothes are attacking the barricades maintained
by the Oaxacan people and their teachers. They are
shooting them with machine guns and the teachers and
the people are defending themselves with stones and
machetes. It is a real massacre organized by the
ulises ruiz administration (Oaxcan Governor). There
are many teachers hurted and at least one American
reporter from New York City (Indymedia), killed by the
State police. The local Red Cross is not caming to
attend the urgent help calls because they have got
orders from the state goverment not to do it. Please
help all concerned.

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77757.html
>>
>>A shootout has occurred in the municipality of
>>Calicate, in Oaxaca City, Mexico today, leaving New
>>York City Indymedia journalist Bradley Will dead after
>>being shot in the chest. He died before reaching the
>>hospital, according to La Jornada. A photographer from
>>the newspaper millenio diario, who was at Wills side,
>>was shot in the foot and reported injured, his status
>>unknown.
>>Radio APPO, the radio of the Assembly Popular of the
>>Oaxacan People,
>>are reporting truckloads of armed paramilitaries
>>entering the city.
>>There are also calling for people to reinforce the
>>thousands of barricades that have been constructed for
>>months as part of the statewide teacher strike and
>>popular uprising that has demanded the removal of PRI
>>governor ulisis Ortiz Ruiz.
>> www.vientos.info/cml
>> www.lajornada.com

Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:00 pm (PST)
My entry to OSAG site is being repeatedly blocked, as well as receiving, so forgve repetitions.Try to spread alarm, that's the bottom line. Dan, can you put up something?

Anybody else write for indymedia or other outlets, to send immediate alarm?

What I have heard up to 8:00 PM from Radio Planton

man abducted by police at noon in Cinco Señores, taken to prison in Tlocolula

student shot in arm on barricade

three dead:
teacher
indymedia reporter, from USA, shot dead, confirmed
photographer from Milenio - ?

23 wounded at San Bartolo Coyotepec, and 3 dead, who I think are those named above. (Also several wounded by sticks and rocks)

all shot by ministerial police or others in service of government

a call is out for flashlights, drinking water, food, reinforcements.

What is URO thinking of?







Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:54 pm (PST)
At Least Three Killed by Police, Including U.S. Indymedia Journalist
Massacre Under Way in Oaxaca

URGENT ALERT – PROTEST SATURDAY,
OUTSIDE MEXICAN CONSULATE IN NYC

OCTOBER 27, 11 p.m. – In response to a state-wide work stoppage in Oaxaca,
Mexico today, plainclothes police and gunmen linked to state governor Ulises
Ruiz have unleashed a bloody massacre. So far today, there are at least
three people confirmed dead, and reports of two more killed, with scores
wounded in the shooting. Among the dead are Brad Will, a video journalist
for Indymedia, and the teacher Emilio Alonso in San Bartolo Coyotepec, near
Oaxaca city, where 23 others were shot.

The Internationalist Group is issuing this bulletin to alert unionists and
others in the U.S. of the need for urgent action. A protest has been called
for tomorrow, Saturday, October 28, at 3 p.m. outside the Mexican consulate
at 27 East 39th Street in Manhattan. We urge people elsewhere in the country
to likewise protest outside Mexican government installations denouncing the
massacre.

According to Radio APPO, the radio station of the Popular Assembly of the
Peoples of Oaxaca, truckloads of armed paramilitaries are entering the state
capital. During the afternoon motorcycles and pick-up trucks with
plainclothes ministerial police roamed through the city. As part of the
ongoing strike by the state teachers union, now in its sixth month, there
are hundreds of barricades in Oaxaca city and strikers are calling to
reinforce the barricades and resist the “caravans of death.”

Seventy thousand teachers have been on strike in the state since May 22.
They have been joined by the APPO, including representatives of the 16
indigenous peoples in the state. The struggle has convulsed Mexico, as
several thousand teachers and APPO strikers marched on Mexico City, where
they have been camped out in front of the Senate.

Yesterday, under heavy pressure from the right-wing federal government of
Vicente Fox, the teachers union, Section 22, SNTE-CNTE, voted by 30,000 to
20,000 to go back to work. However, they made this conditional on receiving
guarantees of safety for the strikers against threats by the murderous state
governor Ruiz and his PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) which has
ruled the state for the last 75 years. This massacre is the government’s
answer.

There have been repeated solidarity demonstrations with the Oaxaca strikers
in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the U.S., as well as
internationally, from Barcelona, Spain to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where
teachers called for workers’ strikes against the repression in Mexico. Now
is the time for international working-class action.

News stories on the killings are available on the web sites of Indymedia
(http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml), NarcoNews
(http://www.narconews.com/), the Mexico City daily La Jornada
(http://www.jornada.unam.mx:8080/ultimas), El Universal
(http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/noticias.html).

For more information, call [phone] or [phone].
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Messages in this topic (1)

13.

[madokie]

1. I think the general consensus here was this was going to happen

[Wiley50]

2. This Will Set Off All Of Mexico

and don't expect it to stay south of the border.

I'm also convinced the Iran Attack is going to happen
Latest news that Israel thinks negotiations are going too slow

The world is a powder keg!

No wonder Smirk and Snarl want Martial Law Powers.

Folks, it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.
If it ever does

[kpete]

3. very sad news

[helderheid]

4. shit.

[quiet.american]

5. This is horrific. n/t

[me b zola]

6. Damn.

Does anyone know when Univision broadcasts the news on Saturdays? I'm interested in how they are going to cover--or not--the government's actions.

[EFerrari]

7. What's the plan, Wiley50? Call newsrooms, the RC?

Or?

[Wiley50]

8. All I've Got is the YahooGroup and Narco News

[e-mail]

Narconews.com

Yahoo group has posting for NY Demonstration:

Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:54 pm (PST)
At Least Three Killed by Police, Including U.S. Indymedia Journalist
Massacre Under Way in Oaxaca

URGENT ALERT – PROTEST SATURDAY,
OUTSIDE MEXICAN CONSULATE IN NYC

OCTOBER 27, 11 p.m. – In response to a state-wide work stoppage in Oaxaca,
Mexico today, plainclothes police and gunmen linked to state governor Ulises
Ruiz have unleashed a bloody massacre. So far today, there are at least
three people confirmed dead, and reports of two more killed, with scores
wounded in the shooting. Among the dead are Brad Will, a video journalist
for Indymedia, and the teacher Emilio Alonso in San Bartolo Coyotepec, near
Oaxaca city, where 23 others were shot.

The Internationalist Group is issuing this bulletin to alert unionists and
others in the U.S. of the need for urgent action. A protest has been called
for tomorrow, Saturday, October 28, at 3 p.m. outside the Mexican consulate
at 27 East 39th Street in Manhattan. We urge people elsewhere in the country
to likewise protest outside Mexican government installations denouncing the
massacre.

According to Radio APPO, the radio station of the Popular Assembly of the
Peoples of Oaxaca, truckloads of armed paramilitaries are entering the state
capital. During the afternoon motorcycles and pick-up trucks with
plainclothes ministerial police roamed through the city. As part of the
ongoing strike by the state teachers union, now in its sixth month, there
are hundreds of barricades in Oaxaca city and strikers are calling to
reinforce the barricades and resist the “caravans of death.”

Seventy thousand teachers have been on strike in the state since May 22.
They have been joined by the APPO, including representatives of the 16
indigenous peoples in the state. The struggle has convulsed Mexico, as
several thousand teachers and APPO strikers marched on Mexico City, where
they have been camped out in front of the Senate.

Yesterday, under heavy pressure from the right-wing federal government of
Vicente Fox, the teachers union, Section 22, SNTE-CNTE, voted by 30,000 to
20,000 to go back to work. However, they made this conditional on receiving
guarantees of safety for the strikers against threats by the murderous state
governor Ruiz and his PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) which has
ruled the state for the last 75 years. This massacre is the government’s
answer.

There have been repeated solidarity demonstrations with the Oaxaca strikers
in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the U.S., as well as
internationally, from Barcelona, Spain to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where
teachers called for workers’ strikes against the repression in Mexico. Now
is the time for international working-class action.

News stories on the killings are available on the web sites of Indymedia
(http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml), NarcoNews
(http://www.narconews.com/), the Mexico City daily La Jornada
(http://www.jornada.unam.mx:8080/ultimas), El Universal
(http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/noticias.html).

For more information, call [phone] or [phone].

[EFerrari]

9. Okay, YOU CAN DO THIS:

1) Email the American Embassy in Mexico City.

[e-mail]

Our so called Ambassador is Antonio Garza. He is a Bush TX crony. Please let him know the world is watching Oaxaca and on his watch.


2) Email the Red Cross.

[e-mail]

This is the email address for MEDIA with questions for the CEO. If they get enough mail, they will have to respond.

Ask the RC if it is true that they are under orders not to help wounded strikers. Or, whatever better question you come up with. ASK THEM A QUESTION -- don't just go off on them, please.

3) Email or call the news desk at the biggest paper in your area. Ask them WHO is covering this. WHO not IF.

EDIT: PLEASE USE 'MASSACRE IN OAXACA' in your Subj line.

[roody]

41. Sent the two emails.

It is the LEAST we can do.

[EFerrari]

45. Thanks, roody.

[druidity33]

10. K&R for visibility... n/t

[EFerrari]

11. Sent to my network / w request they contact Embassy and Red Cross

:nuke:

[EFerrari]

12. AP spin: American, 2 Others Die in Oaxaca Gunfire

(10-28) 00:45 PDT OAXACA, Mexico (AP) --

A New York journalist who documented upheaval throughout Latin America was killed along with two Mexican men in a shootout in the historic city of Oaxaca, where leftist protesters have been trying for five months to oust the governor. Several other people were injured.

The gunfire erupted in a rough neighborhood when armed men tried to remove a blockade set up by protesters who are demanding the resignation of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz, said a police official who was not authorized to speak on the record. Both sides fired but it was not clear who shot first, he said.

Bradley Roland Will, 36, was shot in the abdomen and died at a Red Cross hospital, police, witnesses and friends said. Will worked for Indymedia.org, an independent Web-based media organization and sold video footage on a freelance basis, said friends and Indymedia colleague Hinrich Schuleze.

Oaxaca Attorney General Lizbeth Cana blamed the violence on the leftist protesters, whom she has compared to an urban guerrilla group. She said the armed men trying to move the blockade were angry residents defending themselves.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/10/27/international/i224714D01.DTL&hw=Oaxaca&sn=001&sc=1000

I guess those government snipers dressed up as civilians were just "defending themselves".

:puke:

[Wiley50]

15. What A EFFIN CROCK!

So few of us know the truth

And You can't tell a Fox Viewer shit

They either look at you like you're crazy
or rabidly attack

I'm ready to blow

[EFerrari]

16. I sent both versions to my Chron news desk like this:

"AP reports residents are tired of leftists, but even Bush's pal Garza says it was police dressed up as civilians shooting on the populace."

Let's keep this kicked. We need people to make some noise here.

[lonestarnot]

17. Yes.

[EFerrari]

18. ACTION:

1) Email the American Embassy in Mexico City.

[e-mail]

Our so called Ambassador is Antonio Garza. He is a Bush TX crony. Please let him know the world is watching Oaxaca and on his watch.


2) Email the Red Cross.

[e-mail]

This is the email address for MEDIA with questions for the CEO. If they get enough mail, they will have to respond.

Ask the RC if it is true that they are under orders not to help wounded strikers. Or, whatever better question you come up with. ASK THEM A QUESTION -- don't just go off on them, please.

3) Email or call the news desk at the biggest paper in your area. Ask them WHO is covering this. WHO not IF.

EDIT: PLEASE USE 'MASSACRE IN OAXACA' in your Subj line.

[lonestarnot]

30. Done.

[EFerrari]

44. Thanks.

[lonestarnot]

49. kick

[NorthernSpy]

34. from Reporters sans frontieres (Reporters Without Borders):

Mexico28 October 2006

US cameraman killed and photographer wounded in Oaxaca police shooting

Reporters Without Border said today it was deeply shocked at the death of US cameraman Brad Will, of the US news agency Indymedia, during a violent police crackdown on a demonstration by teachers in the southern state of Oaxaca yesterday. Photographer Osvaldo Ramírez, of the daily paper Milenio, was also shot in the leg.

The worldwide press freedom organisation called for Oaxaca state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, whose resignation the demonstrators were calling for and who last year had the daily Noticias de Oaxaca closed down for nearly six months, to be summoned before the new prosecutor’s office dealing with attacks on press freedom. It also urged federal authorities to investigate him and the Oaxaca municipal police, which it said had become a militia used by local officials.

“We are horrified by this escalation of violence,” it said. “The mood of revolt in Oaxaca must end.”

Will (whose real name is Wheyler), was shot dead with a bullet in his chest while reporting on a protest in front of the town hall of Santa Lucia del Camino (15 km from Oaxaca city) by the Oaxaca People’s Assembly (APPO), which groups 70,000 teachers and social workers, when police and agents of the governor opened fire on a barricade built by the demonstrators.

A dozen clashes occurred in the town and nearby during which two other people were killed. Five protesters were killed during earlier demonstrations in recent days by APPO, which is calling for pay increases.

Oaxaca, one of Mexico’s poorer states, has been in turmoil for more than a year. The teachers’ protests began on 22 May and since 14 June they have demanded Governor Ruiz Ortiz’ dismissal.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19485



:cry:

[EFerrari]

46. Notice this RW group is calling for an end to the rebellion

not the government killing of the strikets.

They're pretty slick and get funding from the GOP.

[EFerrari]

13. kick

[donsu]

14. kicking for justice in Mexico

nt

[Cleita]

19. Not a whisper of this in our news.

I hope BBC news will report.

:kick:

[lonestarnot]

33. Nope, they don't want anybody getting ideas. LOL

When real democracy is stolen, it goes without any televising.

[Cleita]

20. Not a whisper of this in our news.

I hope BBC news will report.

:kick:

[maddezmom]

75. couple of links in the MSM

~snip~
Friday's deadly violence began when gunmen tried to remove a street blockade in a rough neighborhood. Journalist Bradley Roland Will, 36, of New York, was hit in the abdomen and died later at a Red Cross hospital.

Oaxaca resident Esteban Zurrita was shot dead and the bullet-ridden body of another man, Emilio Alonso Fabian, was discovered about two miles away. A photographer for the Mexican newspaper Milenio was slightly injured.

Will worked for Indymedia.org, an independent Web-based media organization and sold video on a freelance basis, said friends and Indymedia colleague Hinrich Schuleze. He had been documenting the upheaval in Internet dispatches that showed strong sympathy for the protesters.

"What can you say about this movement, this revolutionary moment," he wrote in a dispatch dated Oct. 16. "You know it is building, growing, shaping, you can feel it, trying desperately for a direct democracy."

more;http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_oaxaca_unrest

Slain NYC journalist remembered as courageous activist
By COLLEEN LONG
Associated Press Writer

October 28, 2006, 4:44 PM EDT


NEW YORK -- Freelance journalist Bradley Roland Will knew the risks when he decided to stay in the volatile Mexican city of Oaxaca.

"I am entering a new territory here and don't know if I am ready," Will wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to an ex-girlfriend. "Life is crazy."


Three days later, while caught in a shootout in a rough neighborhood of the historic city, the 36-year-old videographer was mortally wounded by a bullet to his abdomen. He died in a Red Cross hospital shortly after the shooting.

Will headed to Oaxaca about one month ago, intent on documenting what he considered human rights violations. Leftist protesters in the Mexican city have tried to oust the governor for the last five months, barricading streets and occupying government buildings

more:http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--journalistslain1028oct28,0,2164072.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

and more links here:
http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=DGUS,DGUS:2006-26,DGUS:en&oe=UTF-8&tab=wn&ncl=http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--journalistslain1028oct28,0,2164072.story%3Fcoll%3Dny-region-apnewyork&hl=en

[Cleita]

83. I know, those sources usually report and only people like us

go to the bother to read them. I was talking about TV, radio and the local fishwrappers that seem to have chosen to ignore this, but have no problem reporting on the wall Bush is building on the border. The two stories are entwined with each other, yet only one is reported. When I worked in the restaurant industry, the majority of the immigrants I worked with were from Oaxaca. They were the ones who risked coming here for a better life because their lives were so miserable there.

[Selatius]

21. APPO should simply topple the governor and assert autonomous rule.

Follow the Zapatista model down in Chiapas, Mexico.

[EFerrari]

22. Please keep this kicked!

:kick:

[leftchick]

23. OMG! Is This Him? *Graphic*

Members of the Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) carry a cameraman who was shot during a shooting near a barricade in Oaxaca City, October 27, 2006. (Daniel Aguilar/Reuters)

:cry:

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/101006oaxacaunrest/im:/061028/photos_ts/2006_10_27t221048_450x308_us_mexico_oaxaca

[leftchick]

24. I believe it is...

:cry:



America was killed along with two Mexican men in a shootout in the historic city of Oaxaca Friday Oct. 27, 2006, where leftist protesters have been trying for five months to oust the governor. Several other people were injured. 'It appears that Mr. Will was killed during a shoot out between what may have been local police,' and protesters, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza said in a written statement. Protesters have taken over the historic city since June, building barricades, driving out police and burning buses. The protesters accuse the governor of rigging the 2004 election to win office and using violence against his opponents. (AP Photo/Dyan Neary)

[EFerrari]

26. Please email the American Embassy and the Red Cross.

We have to stand with these people - Brad Will put himself in harm's way to give them a voice.

:kick:

[leftchick]

27. they identify him in this caption

same photo in the gallery, new caption. This is horrific....

Members of the Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) carry Brad Will, a cameraman, who was shot during a shooting near a barricade in Oaxaca City October 27, 2006. Gunmen opened fire on protesters in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca on Friday, killing a U.S. journalist and wounding several people at road blocks set up by leftists pushing to topple a state governor. Will, a cameraman working with Indymedia New York, was shot in the chest and died before reaching the hospital, the independent news group said on its Web site. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

[EFerrari]

28. Rest his soul.

[oldlady]

29. probably not, the cameraman was injured in the leg,

the reporter was shot in the abdomen and died.

[leftchick]

31. it was him

there is a more graphic photo at the link I posted identifying him and you can see his wound. I can't post the photo, it is too gruesome.

[G_j]

25. how awful!

very scary stuff

[lonestarnot]

32. kick

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Do you want some help fro the Red Cross

Call Geneva... if the local office is not responding, they will get some pull from Mexico City after the ICRC observers get on it

I suspect there is much more to this part of the story than meets the eye, having worked in the Mexican Red Cross for ten years and gone to more than one hot scene.

Dime on the dollar they are somehow being prevented from responding, something bout witnesses if you get my drift, and it goes beyond orders.

On adding, Mexico 1968 the student protest.. government officials learned their lessons

[mirandapriestly]

50. The Red Cross is tied in with the GOP

we figured out during Katrina, where the same thing happened.

[EFerrari]

52. Yep. That's why we have to get them IN there.

That's a good idea. I'll try that in their morning.

[cal04]

36. Killer(s) of American reporter identified; APPO was indeed armed and shooting

Killer(s) of American reporter identified; APPO was indeed armed and shooting
These photos show quite clearly that APPO thugs are armed. The first photo shows an APPO gunman en flagrante (shootin’ at sumbody).



http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/10/oaxaca_mexico_fox_finally_move.php

[phusion]

59. This is pure right-wing propaganda

That site is Mexican right-wing bullshit. The APPO did not shoot the American reporter. Don't believe the spin.

For a more honest account of the situation, check out:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2223.html

and

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2233.html

[Kralizec]

60. What king of crap site is that?

Narco News has been covering Oaxaca for the entire five months that the conflict has been taken place. The APPO has pistols and the Municipal Police have AR-15 rifles, which is a semi-automatic M-16. And you're calling the APPO thugs?

Here, do a little background reading into the subject before embarrassing yourself again:

http://www.narconews.com/otroperiodismo/oaxaca/en.html

You have things backwards. The APPO is comprised of 70,000 unionized school teachers and members of the community fed up with the corruption of their governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, who has a long record to prove this point.

[rman]

69. You're saying APPO killen him? Rediculous,

because this indy media journalist was essentially supporting APPO, by reporting on the violence that the Mexican government is directing at APPO.

And what in the photo in your OP proves that guy is with APPO? And even if he is, how does one guy with a gun prove that "APPO thugs are armed"? And even if they are how do you know it is not in justified defense against govenment paramilitaries?

[rman]

70. Here are your "thugs":

Operation “Clean-Up” in Oaxaca
Following the CIA’s “Psychological Operations” Manual for the Nicaraguan Contras, the State Government Has Unleashed a Bloody Counterinsurgency Strategy to Eliminate the Social Movement
By Diego Enrique Osorno
Special to The Narco News Bulletin
August 28, 2006
narconews.com
http://www.narconews.com/Issue42/article2026.html

(snip)

These armed civilians, as State Attorney General Lizbeth Caña Cadeza will later clarify, were in fact police officers who, she says, were carrying out a “clean-up” operation in the Oaxacan streets. But days later, the garbage continues to accumulate, piling up on the sidewalks.

The real result was a murdered dissident, Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes, as well as several journalists who came under direct fire, including José Alberto Cruz, the author of these photographs that show the alleged police forces with which the government combats the popular, teacher-led uprising.

And so, what happened early in the morning of August 22 turned out not to be an isolated incident, but rather part of a government strategy to stop the growth of the Assembly, where more than 400 social and political organizations (including the teachers’ union) have come together to demand that Governor Ulises Ruíz, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), resign.

[Kurovski]

37. K&R(nt)

[Jcrowley]

38. K & R n/t

[roody]

39. k

[G Hawes]

40. Damn.

Very sad news. :(

[Annces]

42. Very sad.

[dailykoff]

43. Brutal.

With support from the Fox admin naturally. A taste of things to come al norte.

[rumpel]

47. kicking

[femrap]

48. Sending emails...

They can do the same thing here.

[mirandapriestly]

51. "truckloads of armed paramilitaries "

Where have we heard these elements before? Journalists being shot (targeted?)(I heard there were only a small fraction of journalists left in Iraq because of the violence there),
the Red Cross being told not to respond (sounds like Katrina), and the
leftists" are at fault, just like Obrador, who actually is more of a moderate, but was painted as "wild eyed" leftist when he was just contesting a blatant theft.

The Bush administration is involved here, I bet, they were involved with the Mexican election, and I wonder if they are planning something else before November.
I'm so pissed off.

[lonestarnot]

54. I know they were involved the sonofabitches. That's why they're keeping

it off our news.

[Mr_Spock]

53. I heard this but didn't realize it was in Mexico!

You can be sure the US will side with the RWers no matter what :(

[EFerrari]

55. BushCo has been propping them up as hard as they can

or they would be history by now. :(

[Mr_Spock]

56. Mexicans have been suffering with these RW bastards for a long time

It makes one want to be extra diligent knowing what can happen when the RWers control the elections such that they always win. I'm willing to bet that they lost by several percentage points in the last election - damned election box stuffers :(

[Joanne98]

57. This is terrible.

[Judi Lynn]

58. Kick.

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Gregorian]

61. My Oaxaca

It was the Spring of 1974. I had a room in the local doctor's house. I stayed there a couple of weeks. The zocalo. The mango pits in the streets. The tiny windowless stone homes where old women made tortillas for their families. It was calm, quiet, and friendly. I can still see the view out my window at night where the streetlight shown down on a little street. And the friendly old man who invited me into his house. There was an entrance into a courtyard. And we walked up to a balcony and into a room. There he put on a record. It was a song that he had written. It was titled Las Nubes Gris. I remember it was a salsa sound that was fantastic. Las Nubes Gris.

Why? Why.

[madmusic]

62. Why do the police obey these orders...

To attack and kill their own people?

[EFerrari]

63. The powers that be recruited men in ones & twos it looks like -

two from the police, two councilmen, a municipal judge -- probably precisely so they wouldn't be faced with an insurrection by the local police being asked to fire on their own people.

[madmusic]

67. Does this sound too much like BushCo's new martial law law?

It can happen. It has happened. It is happening, and could happen here.

[rman]

71. They fight for pay

It takes a particular kind of personality to do that, of course.

[EFerrari]

64. Narco News is also reporting that teachers are being abducted

and abused or worse:

snip

"By mid-day on Friday, a mechanic, Gerardo Sanchez, was abducted by two plain-clothes men and one woman in a vehicle near the El Rosario Bridge, and driven to Tlocolula where the prison is located. His abductors were later identified as state ministerial police.


Photo: D.R. 2006 El Universal
The operation resembles what happened to Pablo Garcia García on October 1 (Garcia, a student, was beaten, tortured and released). Earlier reports claimed that Gerardo Sanchez had been abducted in Tlocolula. The report said that two lawyers and the PRI mayor were complicit. A call went out for the people of Tlocolula to take over the municipal building. Crowds gathered and that situation remains unclear.

During the afternoon three other teachers were abducted and taken to the city prison, where another shootout occurred. Emilio Alonzo Fabián, a 42-year-old teacher from Loxicha in the Pochutla region, was shot and killed when he ran with others to intercept a car identified as one of those used by the police.?

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2233.html

[judaspriestess]

65. This is terrible

this goes to show that Mexicans want change in their country!! God Bless them.

They must keep up the fight

[silverlib]

66. I have e-mailed as suggested...

this is so sad.

Tony Garza, our ambassador to Mexico, doesn't even speak the language fluently. Before his appointment, Bush took him to Mexico and he couldn't interpret. I thought that would keep him from being appointed, but then, there I go trying to make sense of anything he does.

[rman]

68. footage from Mexican TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD-25P0BKVI&eurl=

[Irreverend IX]

72. "stones and machetes"

"Right now, in this very moment, state policemen dressed in civil clothes are attacking the barricades maintained by the Oaxacan people and their teachers. They are shooting them with machine guns and the teachers and the people are defending themselves with stones and machetes."

In case anyone had lingering doubts that the right to keep and bear arms is vital. With the MCA enacted and posse comitatus suspended, there's nothing left to stop the neocons from pulling the same thing in the US.

[rman]

73. EyeWitness Account of Shootings in OAXACA

original here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2508632


Account of the Príista attack in Santa Lucia del Camino in Oaxaca, Mexico

Attacks across the city kill at least 4.



NOTE: This account is not meant to be a complete account of the day, it is meant to be from the perspectives and experiences of two people in the midst of what can only be described as a battle in the streets of Santa Lucia, in Oaxaca. We know that other things happened in other neighborhoods, and that other things probably happened in our vicinity. This is our best effort at capturing the events that we experienced and witnessed.



On Thursday night, Barricade Three in Santa Lucia del Camino set up a little earlier than normal. Reinforcing the barricades for Friday's day of action required more trucks and buses than usual. At times, it was a chaotic scene with camión after camión joining the barricade and people unsure of where they should go. Eventually things calmed down. Many more people than usual guarded the barricade and the tranquility of the night had many regulars taking time to lie down, if not sleep. As day broke, the barricade took on the feel of a community holiday or small block party with small children running about. At what felt like an informal pot-luck, people brought tortillas and beans, sandwiches, bread, and arroz con leche. Most chose to not cover their faces, despite this being a regular practice at the barricades. Up to this point, the only "contentious" moment was the permitted approached of a chicken truck that surprised several people.



Sudenly, about a dozen people started shouting, donning masks, picking up Molotov cocktails (known as bombas Molotov) and cohetes (large bottle rockets typically shit out of PVC pipes the people call bazookas), and collecting rocks and sticks. A small group moved forward to see why a truck that was part of the barricade (about 200 feet away) was moving and investigate a commotion on the other side of that barricade. After advancing about 100 feet, the group spotted 150 to 200 Príistas (supporters of the authoritarian PRI party that ruled Mexico for 70 years and currently "rule" the state of Oaxaca) marching toward the barricade. The cohetes were fired into the air to warn the Príistas not to approach. The warning was ignored.



The tiny group of defenders fell back to the barricade and gathered more supplies. It was a chaotic situation. Prioritizing in the moment, a split second decision was made to leave our bags, in part because rocks from the Príistas were already falling where our bags lay. As we sprinted down side streets to the closest barricade, there were shouts for children to go inside their homes to safety. At the next barricade, people were banging on poles and railing to sound the alarm and rally the neighborhood to fight the Príista advance. People came out of their homes and armed themselves with sticks, machetes, metal poles, cohetes and rocks. Once a fairly large crowd had gathered several people started shouting "Vamos, compañerQos, Vamos!" (Let's go) and "Avanza!" (advance). People began advancing to the fallen barricade and the Príistas, spreading out along the width of the four-lane highway, it's median, and sidewalks. Both sides fired their cohetes, and as we drew nearer rocks started flying from both sides. We pushed the Príistas back passed the remnants of the now disassembled barricade. There was a lull of about thirty seconds as we populated the area around the barricade before many decided to chase the still-visible Príistas only about 100 feet away from us. Though most of them retreated faster than we advanced, one unlucky Príistas was forced to choose his own safety and well-being over that of his fancy SUV. The look of regret was visible on his face as rocks crashed to the ground around him and he turned and ran. The SUV, lacking a license plate, briefly became the target instead of the retreating Príistas. Tires slashed, windows smashed, someone decided to ensure that it was beyond use and set it ablaze. While some focused their attention on the SUV, some continued to chase the Príistas. Most Príistas had scattered into nearby homes and businesses, so people re-grouped back at the barricade.



As we all clustered in the intersection, the two of us looked around and estimated that there were at least 500 people ready to defend their neighborhood. We were both amazed by what we were seeing. Neither of us had ever witnessed such an incredible display of collective self-defense. We both nearly cried at the inspiring sight of people successfully working together to ward off aggression without centralized leadership. The barricade reclaimed, sandbags replaced, and the Príistas pushed back, the battle appeared for a few moments, to be over.



We're unsure as to the exact reason for the second advance, but we believe that Príistas were again spotted at the next intersection where they had scattered minutes before. As we cautiously advanced, walking in cover when possible, shots were heard from the intersection and everyone ducked or ran for cover. Many corporate news outlets, most notably those relying on AP "reporter" Rebeca Romero (widely believed to be on Ulises Ruiz's payroll), have claimed it was "unclear" as to who shot first. It was the Príistas. From the ground, on the receiving end of the gunfire, there is no doubt as to who shot first. There is nothing "unclear" about it. It was the Príistas, shown by El Universal photos and local television to be armed to the teeth, who shot first.



After the shooting stopped, the group moved quickly to the other side of the road and to the corner where the shots had originated from. The attacking Príistas had retreated back away from the highway and deeper into the neighborhood. Fifty to 100 people slowly advanced north a block into the neighborhood while 200 people gradually moved up, either by going north, or approaching it from the west by way of the barricade. Again the group moved north, taking cover by vehicles parked along the street. In addition to shooters at the far end of the street, more Príistas were taking cover inside a building along the street. The building was targeted with Molotovs, rocks, bricks, and cohetes. Someone kicked the door in before Príistas down the street started shooting again and we had to retreat back to the end of the block. This gave the Príistas time to close and blockade the door. A few attempts with similar results gave way to milling about, as we waited for reinforcements. One block west towards the barricade, about 100 people had gathered to take cover from additional Príistas on that street. Soon we heard a truck roar to life and a few minutes later, compañeros in a dump truck came to provide shielding for another advance. In the first such advance, the truck went too far down the road, shooting started again, at which point we fell back to the end of the block. Most waited there while the truck maneuvered itself horizontally across the street in front of the gate of the targeted building. Once the truck was ready, another advance began and the truck smashed open the gate. Another round of shooting began, and again everyone took cover and began to withdraw.



At this point, Brad Will, an Indymedia reporter from New York, was shot in the abdomen as he was filming. Many people ran to carry him around the block and down the street. As we waited for a car to arrive to take him to the hospital, efforts were made to keep him conscious and breathing, including CPR. As Brad showed signs of consciousness and movement, the crowd surrounding him cheered. He was carried into a car and driven to the hospital. Moments later, as people were still taking in what happened, it started to rain. People gathered up the Molotovs and cohetes and got them out of the rain. About a half hour later, people started to gradually head back to the barricade.



When we arrived at the barricade, we learned from a teary-eyed compañero that Brad had died on his way to the hospital. People from APPO such as Flavo Sosa arrived at the scene and were attempting to coordinate with the rest of the city where there had been other attacks. Hundreds of bottles were being filled and prepared as Molotov cocktails. Thanks to the help of several compañeras, we recovered one of our bags; though the other which contained a passport, several forms of id, travelers checks, over $1,000 pesos (most of which was intended to be used for the barricade), a video camera, is gone and was presumably stolen by the Príistas. Hundreds remained at the barricade for the night. The two of us went to a compañero's house to rest, write and watch the news.



As of this writing, the Príistas have set up their own barricades within the neighborhood, APPO has activated the mobile brigades, 4 or 5 people have died, dozens injured, and barricade 3 remains up, reinforced, and alert. Among the attackers were local municipal police (such as Abel Santiago Zárate and Juan Carlos Soriano Velasco) and politicians/PRI thugs (such Manuel Aguilar and Pedro Carmona, the man identified as Brad Will's killer), all from the neighborhood. Though the two of us had slightly differing expectations of how the day would pan out, neither of us expected an attack of this kind or magnitude in broad daylight. The diversity of people who fought the Príista attackers was astounding. We saw young kinds helping to gather cohetes and Molotovs. We saw old women armed with rocks making their way to the front. We saw people wearing circle As, hammer and sickles, and people who didn't wear their political identity on their sleeves. In the end, it didn't matter who you were, only what side you stood on.



La lucha sigue; the struggle continues.



"Tenemos dos manos y un corazón para luchar."

"We have two hands and a heart to struggle."

--CIPO-RFM



Two Poggers in Oaxaca





PS

We didn't know Brad before meeting him here in Oaxaca, and wish to direct you to accounts of his life that are better than anything we would be able to write. Our thoughts go to his family, friends, and loved ones.



http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2223.html

http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2006/10/77809.html



Our thoughts and prayers also go out to the dead and wounded whose names we do not know and whose fates we did not witness.

[malaise]

74. The right wing of the planet

has gone fugging mad. Thanks for this.

[rman]

76. NANCY DAVIES: COMMENTARY FROM OAXACA

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2233.html

Federal Police Authorized to Enter Oaxaca
A Day Of Killings While Teachers Negotiate in Mexico City

By Nancy Davies
Commentary from Oaxaca

October 28, 2006

President Vicente Fox, through his Secretary of Internal Affairs Carlos Abascal, has authorized the entry of the Federal Preventive Police (PFP in its Spanish initials) into Oaxaca, in direct response to the events of October 27 in Oaxaca. Following a declaration by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) to launch an all-out work stoppage and boycott to force the hand of governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (known as “URO”), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) supporters, both police and private individuals, assaulted the population in several different areas of the city on Friday. The result, according to the Radio Universidad, was four dead, thirty wounded. The dead have now been identified as Emilio Alonso Fabián, Bradley Will and Eudocia Olivera Díaz. The fourth reported death, of Esteban Zurita López, is at the center of accusations by both sides of the conflict, with each blaming the other.

Airplanes full of PFP officers and riot gear have already arrived, with the police now gathered at a nearby military base, reports the national daily El Universal.


Photo: D.R. 2006 Nancy Davies
My analysis is that if the PFP enter the city by day, a negotiated exit is open for the APPO, possibly implying the removal URO from office. If they come by night, they’re likely coming to dislodge by force the resistance lodged in the zocalo (central city plaza) and barricades. URO precipitated the intervention by his attacks. The question is, does the PAN party of Fox and Calderón want to maintain URO as a sop to the PRI, or has URO become so costly that the PAN may choose to dump him? If so, URO’s setting up of the APPO backfires.


On Friday morning, the day scheduled for the onset of the big anti-URO strike, I walked up the north-south street close to my house. The newly constructed small neighborhood barricade consisted of three men, six women, a snarl of barbed wire, a banner, and a barrel. On the main road, traffic was light and getter lighter. In the middl

e of Niños Heroes Street, a woman held an umbrella against the sun with one hand and with the other tossed aside the rocks that impeded traffic in front of her shop. When she reached the sidewalk where I was watching, she snarled, “Ya basta! That’s enough of these blockades!” It appeared she not did not understand that, no more than 300 meters behind her, two busses were being maneuvered into position for a complete blockade of the avenue.

The peaceful appearance of this shut-down was brief. By the time I returned home the radio told a different story. URO had been sighted in Santa Lucia, and people were reminded not to overreact.

Three people were dead before the 11 o’clock news came on. During the Oaxaca segment of TV Azteca news, URO announced firmly that four were dead but that the shooting was done by the APPO, while his police were all in their barracks. Photographs and videos emerged later revealing the shooters as members of the ministerial police. URO was interviewed via phone by TV Azteca, which was simultaneously showing people with sticks in their hands running away from what could be heard as gunshots. In the video clip, they were carrying the body of Brad Will, a U.S. Indymedia reporter, who was killed during the afternoon in Santa Lucía del Camino during a confrontation with ministerial police. Along with him, a photographer from Milenio was shot in the foot. Santa Lucia del Camino is now in the hands of the PRI.

[Wiley50]

77. .

[rman]

78. The Video That Was In Brad's Camera When He Was Killed

Brad was killed while taking footage of other people being
brutalized, repressed and sometimes killed. He was in Oaxaca
filming abuses, and essentially he was victimized as well.

The first 8 mins or so are interviews in Spanish with
people around Oaxaca.

Brad then takes the camera to a dangerous barricade.
One of so many that he's gone to before. He gathers
footage of the violence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGmsSFMpb88&eurl=

[lonestarnot]

80. Bradley Will thank you.

:cry:

[EFerrari]

81. Thanks, rman.

[Jcrowley]

79. Kick

n/t

[brainshrub]

82. Most DUers will stay home.

I love DU, and y'all are my extended internet family - but I've been reading posts and threads like this for years.

The bottom line is that in case of election fraud, 99.99% of DUers will stay at home and do nothing except complain on this forum. You'll justify the inaction because you'll be busy that week, or there will be a big project at work, or your daughter needs to be brought to the dentist.

These are all legitimate excuses, and there is nothing shameful about taking care of your personal needs.

On the conservative side, they have the "chickenhawk" who talks about supporting war, but refuses to enlist. On the left we have the "busydove" who loves to talk big about social change, but always finds excuses not to engage in serious acts of decent.

If you're offended by that last sentence and you think I'm painting with a broad brush. You're right; but if my characterizations were wrong, this country wouldn't be where it is.

Take comfort that I wasn't talking about you. No, no, no. I know that you really were busy. That you really, really, really couldn't come up to DC or organize something in your community. That you couldn't bear to miss the latest episode of Lost.

BTW: I love the faded "Get Out Of Iraq" bumper sticker on your car. It's really done a lot.

:eyes:

[roody]

84. What actions do you suggest we take?

I am ready.

[Cleita]

85. I take offense at that statement.

We do what can be done by us. We work on campaigns. We telephone and write letters to our representatives. We vote. This is the most that the rank and file of us can do. We can't run Congress.

It's our representatives that should be leading the charge to change things. We have told them what we want, however, the reason there is no change is because they are ignoring us. I hope this election turns this around.