at Oaxaca's airport after overflying the city for 2 hours this afternoon.
It is being reported that soldiers have been flying into Oaxaca all day and are continuing to be flown in. Various helicopters have been overflying the city during the afternoon apparently photographing the blockades installed and manned by APPO. Some news outlets are predicting that the federal government will move against the street thugs tonight. The betting all day has been that the major action would be taken around Wednesday after the APPO and SNTE had received a final warning to clear the streets.
If it does indeed happen, either tonight or in the next few days, it is long overdue. While regaining control of the streets and bringing some order to the rampant crime and vandalism will certainly be welcome, the underlying problems in the state of Oaxaca and, for that matter, the entire country, will not be solved.
If Governor Ruiz Ortiz decides to celebrate the impending recovery of law and order in the streets as a great victory, he'll soon enough find himself in just as hot a water as that in which he is currently boiling. If it is the governor's intentions to continue with business as usual after the feds leave, and the feds allow him to get away with this, the next social uprising will be a truly bloody affair.
Let's see how this is handled and pray that bloodshed, at least among the soldiers who will just be doing their jobs, can be held to a minimum. There will be violence and a lot of it. The striking teachers and then the APPO have had an almost unbroken string of successes against law enforcement and their confidence is running high. I fear that only the smell of gunsmoke and the sight of their own blood running in the streets will bring them to heel.
If previous state and federal government attempts to regain control of streets both here and in other locations around the country are any indication, this is not going to go well.
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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, APPO, Oaxaca teachers' strike, SNTE, anarchy
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