FINALLY: an honest media article about OAXACA

[Wiley50]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/message/1294

Oaxaca's Embattled Governor Keeps a Tenuous Hold on Power
Ruiz Resists Calls to Resign, Even From Within His Party
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, November 1, 2006; A15

OAXACA, Mexico
mexico.html?nav=el> , Oct. 31 -- Ulises Ruiz, governor of the strike-
scorched state of Oaxaca, is cornered.

Mexico's Congress wants him to quit. Hordes of protesters want him to
quit. His own party wants him to quit.

But he won't budge.

Ruiz is the central player in the 163-day strike that thousands of
federal riot police have not been able to end. He is the subject of
an ultimatum: Unless Ruiz goes, the protesters will stay. After more
than five months of tumult, few people here question the
demonstrators' resolve, even though the city was mostly calm Tuesday
while protest leaders huddled to plan new actions.

The conflict, which has claimed the lives of an American freelance
journalist and as many as 14 demonstrators, is exposing Ruiz's
weaknesses. A longtime political operative, he is accustomed to
working behind the scenes. At a time when a rousing speech might have
won him support, Ruiz has seldom appeared in public. Analysts here
describe him as an uninspiring orator, unable to connect with the
public at large.

"He has no charisma, no ability to get close to the people," said
Isidoro Yescas Martínez of Benito Juarez Autonomous University of
Oaxaca. "What he's trying to do is survive in a situation that is
impossible politically, technically and administratively."

For much of the past five months, Ruiz has not even been able to go
to work. Protesters, including striking teachers, anarchists and
union activists, occupied his office until federal troops arrived
here Saturday night. Ruiz has frequently been forced to flee to
Mexico City, a six-hour drive from Oaxaca, and to try to govern by
phone.

"Each day it is becoming more obvious that in order to start heading
toward a solution, he must leave office," Dulce María Sauri, an
influential senator, said in an interview. "Sometimes a person's
absence helps more than his presence." Like Ruiz, Sauri is a member
of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

On Monday, both houses of Mexico's Congress passed resolutions urging
Ruiz to resign. The Chiapas rebel leader, Subcomandante Marcos, and
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who lost this summer's presidential
election but remains influential, have also called for his ouster.

Ruiz's tenure as governor was troubled before it began. On election
night in 2004, he was trailing when a computer glitch shut down the
counting. When the counting resumed, he was on top. The opposition
accused him of fraud.

He stepped into one of the country's most complicated political jobs.
Oaxaca is Mexico's second-poorest state and home to 16 indigenous
ethnic groups that speak more than 50 dialects. Though its population
is 3 million-plus people, it has 570 municipalities -- nearly a
fourth of the cities in Mexico--and more than 8,000 administrative
units known as localities, each with its own informal social and
governmental structures.

During his nearly two years in office, Ruiz offended many residents
by undertaking an expensive renovation of the town's beloved square
-- which some considered perfect as it was-- and by spending heavily
on controversial road projects.

Local journalists and activists accused him of wasting tax dollars
and countless hours trying to buck up the flagging presidential
campaign of Roberto Madrazo, the PRI candidate. Few would have
questioned the spending during the PRI's 70-year hold on power, which
ended in 2000. But after that the party became much weaker.

Residents took to the streets to complain. Oaxaca has a long history
of public demonstrations against graft. The formula, perfected during
the long reign of the PRI , was simple: Groups marched or threatened
to march; politicians gave them money to go away.

When Ruiz took office, Oaxaca was being overrun by such protests, and
he tried to change the system. He cracked down on small groups but
initially did nothing stop the powerful teachers union from holding
its annual sit-in for higher salaries. After several days, though, he
sent police to push the teachers out. Protesters were furious and
began calling for his ouster. His move proved ineffective -- the
teachers fought back, overwhelming the police and regaining the town
square.

"This monster -- the never-ending protests, which had been created by
these PRI governments -- rose up and this colossus said: 'No,' " said
Gloria Zafra, a sociologist who has written extensively about protest
traditions in Oaxaca.

The colossus is still saying no, but so is Ruiz. Their standoff has
turned into Mexico's biggest political flash point. The question is
who will give up first -- Ruiz's term doesn't expire until 2010.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

[roody]

1. k