APPO has been working throughout yesterday and last night to fortify their last redoubt at Benito Juarez University. There are now 5 lines of barricades blocking Avenida Universidad. This normally busy thoroughfare is, when not choked by illegally parked cars, an 8 lane divided boulevard. APPO pseudo-students have 5 city buses blocking the northern end of the boulevard at the big Cinco Señores intersection. At the southern end in front of Plaza Oaxaca, near my location, sits the propane gas tanker.
These idiots set fire to another hijacked truck just 50 feet away from the propane truck. The burning truck has burned down to the rims and is still smoking.
Why the PFP has allowed APPO to build up its forces and barricades here is beyond me. It may be that there simply are not enough federal police to hold down every hot spot around the city. The Zócalo, now under the feds' control, was a simbol of the insurrection, I'll admit. But with every hour that goes by APPO becomes stronger and more dangerous in front of and inside the university. APPO radio is back on the air, so they must have some technical expertise that has allowed them to regain or replace the electricity which was cut off Sunday night.
APPO is financing their operation through the robbery of my HSBC ATM machines. They also hit the fire station that sits just behind Plaza Oaxaca. A group of APPO thugs arrived at the fire station this morning and demanded that the firemen turn over their vehicles. When the firemen refused, they were attacked. There were two firemen injured. APPO got away with the emergency paramedic vehicle, 7 fireproof suits with oxygen tanks and a private SUV belonging to one of the firemen as well as other firefighting equipment. According to reports they did not get a firetruck.
I will walk back down there and see if I can get an inventory and maybe even interview a fireman, if there are any left.
There are overflights by helicopters, about 1 per hour. As the helicopters approach, APPO soldiers fire their rockets at them. It is amusing because the rockets don't even come close. After dark, there is wild rocket firing because the APPistas can only hear the helicopters. So they fire their rockets into the air randomly in an effort to bring down an aircraft. This is also amusing up until about 11:00 pm when I would like to go to sleep.
The feds are also employing a single engine airplane, but only at night. This plane appeared mysteriously on Sunday night. No one seems to know what this plane is being used for. It only seems to arrive at the airport. I have never heard it, much less seen it, after a takeoff or approaching the airspace above the university. It always seems to be returning. On Sunday night, the university's APPO defenders ignored the airplane. But last night they took potshots at it, as well. This is even more entertaining because the plane is long gone before the APPistas hear its engine and can get off a few rockets. Last night I heard the plane pass overhead before the rockets began bursting in air. I think it's the CIA.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
In this video you'll see the federal police using front-end loaders to move barricades out of their way. You can also see some people throwing rocks. What you will not hear are any gunshots nor rocket explosions nor even see any tear gas. This confrontation took place early and was most typical of the faceoffs around the city. The big battle that took place in front of Tech University was atypical of the day. In this film it appears that there are more camermen and reporters than either police or protesters. That was not the case for all the confrontations.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
First came Secretary of the Interior Abascal to declare that the federales' incursion into Oaxaca was accomplished "a saldo blanco" -- with a clean slate --meaning that no one was killed during the operation. Then, President Vicente Fox declared yesterday that "there has been no loss of life" in the contretemps throughout the city.
I, and everyone else who was paying any attention, knew that there were at least 3 deaths involved within the first few hours of the federales entering the city. Before the operation even got started, a federale (PFP) officer was killed and 14 more injured when a transport carrying them to the city overturned and plunged down an embankment. Then, APPO announced that 2 persons had been killed by gunshots from the PFP. I didn't believe that story for two reasons; first, you can't believe anything APPO says and, second, the vast majority of the PFP officers are not armed with anything other than a baton, helmet and shield.
The PFP itself, on Sunday afternoon, announced that they had one body and that man had been killed when a nail-laden rocket he was attempting to fire exploded in his face. The other person killed was identified as Fidel García. He was reportedly shot in an alley near the big confrontation at the Tech University by a gang of masked men. It is impossible to determine who those men were. No body has been produced but it is pretty well accepted that there is at least one more fatal casualty. The generally-favorable-to-the-government local daily El Imparcial is reporting this as fact and I would tend to believe it.
The autopsy -- and I don't know who performed it -- of Jorge Alberto López, a male nurse from Etla, confirmed that he was indeed killed by a tear gas cannister. If you take a look at his body, there is no evidence, at least that I can see, of burns that would indicate something exploded in his hands and face. Nor is there any evidence of shrapnel wounds from "a nail laden rocket".
President Fox says, "No fatalities during the operation."
Indymedia is claiming 11 dead, but you can't believe anything they say, either. Show me the bodies. Indymedia also has a photo of shell casings which they would like you to believe is evidence of the use of firearms against APPO. At least one of these cartridges looks like it was fired several years ago, possibly in Viet Nam.
Incontrovertible proof that APPO used firearms against federal police. There, now. Two can play this game.
In any event, whoever advised President Fox that he could claim that there were no fatalities during Sunday's operation should be seeking new employment.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
APPO was indeed able to muster enough people to organize 3 separate marches into the center of the city today. There may be anywhere from 500 to 2000 people involved. The PFP stood their ground and awaited the arrival of the marchers. about all that has happened so far are shouts, insults and a few thrown rocks. I think APPO is well aware they no longer have the force to retake the Zócalo, in spite of their promises to do so that they made throughout the night.
A large number of the marchers, including those few APPO leaders not in hiding, marched from their last redoubt in Juarez University. I wonder why the PFP did not move against the University after so many of their potential antagonists had left. I just walked over to take a look and it's not a pretty sight.
The propane gas tanker has had its delivery hose uncoiled and stretched out about 50 feet away from the tanker. It's lying on the ground. I suppose some moron intends to try to use it as a giant flamethrower. I used a Bunson burner once in high school chemistry class and it got really hot. I heated up a glass rod until it was glowing red. Then I blew on it until it just returned to its normal color. I then turned to a guy next to me, Chris Southwick, if I remember correctly, and asked him, "Is this yours?" He said, "Hey, what are you doing with my stuff?" Then he grabbed the glass rod, which had cooled to just less than 1000°F. Sssssssssst. Fistfight and subsequent suspensions ensued.
There will be no automated bank teller business conducted at HSBC (formerly Banco Bital) in Plaza del Valle, at least for awhile. Last night thieves yanked out the entire glass wall in front of the two machines. The glass is lying on the sidewalk in front of the bank. One machine is gone and the other is lying on its side, ripped completely open. My neighbors and I are mystified as to why we did not hear the alarm last night.
Sam's Club (you go, Wal-Mart!), El Portón restaurant and the following new car dealerships are open, if you're in the market today; VW, Nissan, Mercedes Benz, Ford, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Renault and Honda. These stores are strung out in a line from Símbolos Patrios to Plaza Oaxaca. You have to look closely to see that they are open because they've moved all of their rolling stock away from the streets to the back lots. However, the American multi-national restauranteurs are closed until further notice; MacDonalds, KFC, Burger King and Pizza Hut.
The Gigante supermarket is the only store open in Plaza del Valle. It's just a few doors down from the newly open-to-the-elements but not-open-for-business HSBC bank. Plaza Oaxaca is where the barricades begin on Avenida Universidad and they stretch from there all the way past the university to Cinco Señores, the next big intersection. The big Soriana supermarket in Plaza Oaxaca opened on time this morning, also. Bad move. There are now about 50 Soriana shopping carts strung together and being used as barricades near the gas tanker.APPO and university pseudo-students must have waltzed it this morning and begun rolling them out.
They also have torn down 4 big 15' columns as well as the roof that they supported and are using this debris in their barricades. I don't know where this stuff came from. It's painted in somewhat the same color scheme as Burger King but I couldn't see any obvious damage to the front of that building. However, the drive-through is at the back and that may have been the source of this material.
The gas tanker really worries me. I'm sure it worries the PFP, as well. It's far enough away and there is enough steel and concrete between the tanker and our little gated community to prevent any direct dmage. However, the explosion could shatter windows and would certainly scare the hell out of all of us. Hopefully, the moron who lights up this gigantic Bunson burner, just before his self-immolation, will drain enough pressure off to forestall the blast.
UPDATE I: It is now being reported that the APPO marchers have backed away from the PFP in the Zócalo and have set up shop around Santo Domingo. That's a real shame. Santo Domingo is one of the most beautiful colonial buildings in all of the Americas. Now it will be reduced to the same shit-hole status as the Zócalo. I do hope the PFP takes strong action to move APPO out of this area, and soon.
UPDATE II: The Mexican Chamber of Deputies just released a resolution calling upon Governor Ruiz Ortiz to resign. While the resolution carries no legal weight, it was approved with the participation of the PRD, PAN, Convergencia, PT, Nueva Alianza y PASC. Only the first 2 political parties count, the remaining 4 are too small to be of any import.
The PRI (the governor's party) and the PVEM, another tiny political party, voted against the resolution. However, there was only one speaker who rose in support of the resolution (from the PAN) and no speakers chose to argue against it. Pretty lame, really.
UPDATE III: Not lame enough for the governor, apparently. Governor Ruiz Ortiz has already answered. His lawyer has filed a petition with the country's Supreme Court seeking to have the resolution quashed. Ruiz Ortiz's lawyer says that the Chamber of Deputies does not have the right to even ask the governor to resign.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
The president of the Governing Council of the Mexican House of Representatives (Cámera de Diputados), Jorge Zermeño Infante of the PAN (the party of Fox and Calderón) has bailed out on Oaxaca's Governor Ruiz Ortiz. Zermeño, while supporting the enrance of federal forces into the city, has called for the embattled governor to step down.
Zermeño says that he thinks this is the only way to begin the long-term solutions to the problems in Oaxaca. He's probably right.
That puts the PAN and the PRD (party of AMLO), the two biggest parties in the Mexican legislature, in the same corner . . . sort of. Zermeño and the PAN recognize that, under the law, Ruiz Ortiz cannot be forced from office. The PRD not only vociferously opposes the presence of federal forces in the city, but also wants Ruiz Ortiz fired and to hell with the law.
Meanwhile, Ruiz Ortiz says he's not going anywhere. Developing (understatement of the week).
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
This post will remain at the top until this afternoon Please scroll down.
I haven't been able to post for almost 48 hours because of problems with Blogger. It looks like Blogger wants to work this morning, so I'll play catch up. Most of the missing posts, at least in excerpted form, can be found at Pajamas Media.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
APPO talking heads are denying this morning that APPO lost the Zócalo, and the rest of the city, to federal forces (PFP) yesterday. The fact that PFP personnel are enjoying breakfast in the Zócalo, consisting of "scrambled eggs, sausage, tortillas, salsa roja and coffee", would indicate, at least to me, that APPO no longer has control.
The Myrmidon's advance
The big battle took place at the northwestern entrance to the city at the Tech University. If you've ever visited the Zapotec ruins at Monte Alban, you've passed very close to this area. I'll write a description of that one later. In any event, as the PFP forces moved forward down the road towards a waiting throng of 2500 to 4000 APPistas, they thumped their batons on their shields rhythmically as they marched forward. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Right out of "Troy".
They did the same thing when they entered the Zócalo, but here there was no battle. What happened in the Zócalo yesterday at 7:00 pm was interesting, indeed.
When the federal forces arrived at the Zócalo, they paused for about 15 minutes and faced off, sometimes chest-to-shield, with the few remaining APPistas. They stood there thumping their batons on their shields. Flavio Sosa, APPO's leader who has been making almost daily flights back and forth to Mexico City to negotiate with the Secretary of Interior, made a grand entrance and mounted the bandstand.
He ostentatiously made a call on his cell phone. Word was passed around that he was "negotiating with Secretary of the Interior Carlos Abascal for the withdrawal of the PFP." After just a couple of minutes, Flavio Sosa abruptly stuck the phone in his pocket and "ran out of the Zócalo".
I imagine the conversation went something like this: Sosa, brandishing cell phone for all to see: "Haloo?. This is Flavio Sosa in Oaxaca." Abascal, listening to batons thumping on shields: "Flavio who?"
Rogelio Vargas, a spokesman for APPO in Mexico City (6 hours away by fast car) told a radio interviewer that the people of Oaxaca met the federal forces "in the streets with white flowers and handed them letters asking them to please stop their violation of the city (by the authorities) so as to avoid violence." Oh, you mean like this?
This fellow is sending a letter by air mail.
I don't see any petunias in this photo, either.
After everyone stopped laughing, Vargas also declared that APPO had not ceded control of the city to federal forces, but that APPO and the government were enjoying an "undeclared truce". Nothing like a little comedy with one's breakfast, no?
APPO has withdrawn to Juarez University. The university is their last stronghold. This is interesting in that, while they have had control of the university's radio station since June, the university has not been been a focal point for them. Their student supporters, or, as the Mexican press has begun to call them, "pseudo-students", did burn two buses inside the university some months ago. But, to my knowledge, Flavio Sosa and his band of merry men have not used the university as a staging ground nor as a center of operations, at least until yesterday.
They are still there and have announced that there will be 3 marches today. All 3 will leave from different points around the city and terminate in the Zócalo as APPO "retakes the Zócalo". Or so they claim. We'll see.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
While everyone, including yours truly, waited for the confrontation in front of Juarez University on Avenida Universidad, the federal police (PFP) were much more clever. They quietly went around behind the university and entered through a back gate. That's how they were able to cut the power to Radio APPO and shut down APPO's last line of communication.
There will still be a set-to on Avenida Universidad, but the feds can now attack from the rear as well. I can hear the rockets being fired by APPO personnel manning the barricades on the boulevard. Whether that means that the PFP is now moving against them or not, I do not yet know.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
APPO has abandoned the center of the city and federal forces are now in the zócalo. Flavio Sosa, leader of APPO, exhorted his followers -- from a prudent distance, of course -- to bring in food and drink to help sustain the holdouts in the city's central square. However, federal police are now enjoying the repast because the holdouts hopped out.
Sosa made his entreaties over Radio APPO which is, or was, the hijacked Juarez University radio station. When the feds had had their fill of listening to radio APPO, they cut the power to the university and APPO Radio is no more. My neighbors and I had received telephoned warnings that the power would be cut and were told to prepare for the loss of electricity. Not to worry, the feds did a good job and, as far as I can tell, were able to pretty well isolate the university's power supply.
We have also been warned that when the federal police arrive to clear Avenida Universidad of the dozens of vehicles blocking it, they will use tear gas to remove the "students" from the boulevard as well as from inside the university. We have been advised to use wet towels with a splash of white vinegar to offset the effects of the tear gas. I have decided to use wet tequila with a splash of green lime instead.
I live about a half of a mile from the front entrance to the university, which my hysterical wife has decided is "2 blocks". I don't think there'll be a problem with tear gas. Especially after the fourth tequila or so. She also advised me to get the hell out of Dodge. I replied that as soon as I could gas up my jet pack, I'd be right along.
The city has been cut off from the outside world, at least by highway, since about 8:00 this morning. I doubt I'll be going anywhere soon.
On a more serious note, APPO is claiming that a 15 year-old boy has been shot to death by federal police. This is highly unlikely, though not impossible, because there have been no reports of any shots fired by federal forces. In fact, the federal police are not, for the most part, armed. Only specifically trained officers are allowed firearms as well as their commanders. That may be why they brought in the 600 military personnel. In the case that the federal police met with gunfire, the troops would have been employed to counteract that eventuality.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
The government of Mexico City (DF) is PRD party affiliated. The DF and, indeed, almost all of the state of Mexico is a PRD stronghold. So, the DF city government has thumbed its nose at President Fox and his PAN party by welcoming and supporting losing presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his disruptive antics in the DF. AMLO's minions have been camping out in the zócalo in downtown Mexico City as well as up and down the length of Paseo Reforma (US Embassy) since he lost the election in early July.
The DF government, under the PRD's Alejandro Encinas, has been quite critical of both the Oaxacan and federal government's handling of the crisis here. (But then, of course, so have I). Encinas was especially critical of Fox's decision yesterday to send in federal forces to retake the city from the APPO and its associated anarchists, communists, urban guerrillas and associated criminal elements. Those chickens have now come home to roost in Mexico City.
Mexico City riot police battled APPO supporters all day, some groups over 2000 strong, in several parts of the city. Tonight, APPO has hijacked 2 DF city trolleys and has them blocking the major intersection of Lázaro Cárdenas and Paseo Reforma. APPO anarchists are threatening to burn the buses if the riot police don't go away.
Encinas has really blown this one. He approved, encouraged and then helped drag in a Trojan horse. In the past, when he thought about or talked about Oaxaca's exports, I'm sure that he was referring to alabrijes and barro negro, not armed mobs in the streets and burning city buses. But that's what he's got.
Yesterday an APPO mob gathered outside Los Pinos, the presidential palace. They blocked traffic all day but were held in check by federal riot police. Encinas got a good giggle out of that. He sternly reminded President Fox that Mexican's enjoy the right to protest anywhere they want, any time they want and any way they want. Er, so long as it's in Oaxaca or on federal property. When it happens on city property, well, that's an entirely different matter.
APPO held a strategy meeting early today and announced that stronger actions would be taken in the DF, beginning today. Mayor Encinas is about to get the APPO treatment that we have so enjoyed these past 5 months.
Bon apetit!
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
Nothing happening yet at the university. There is a group of about 15 masked "students" awaiting the arival of the federales. They are carrying bags with their rocket launchers and ammo for same. They've set fire to a big pile of tires in the street. Lots of smoke but of little consequence, not enough to interfere with the surveillence overflights.
Some of their barricades that I saw just a couple of hours ago have already been plowed through by someone. Also, several owners of hijacked vehicles had apparently forcibly recovered their trucks. There are only two trucks left blocking the sourthern approach to the university, one of them being the propane tanker with the slashed tires. The big ADO bus is still sitting across Avenida Universidad directly in front of the university. Helicopter overflights are taking place about every 30 minutes.
Raymundo Pacheco, president of the Historic Center Council, a commercial group representing 570 downtown store owners, was kidnapped by APPO this afternoon as he walked across the Zócalo. He has just delivered a package of phone cards to one of his shops and was on his way to another. He stopped to take a picture of the almost deserted Zócalo with his cell phone. He was grabbed by APPO thugs who accused him of being a government spy. He's being held prisoner in the Zócalo's kiosk (bandstand). Pacheco is well known to APPO since he is downtown with them every day and has been for 5 long months.
APPO also grabbed 12 soldiers who were on their way to a training session in Ciudad Ixtepec. When they could not get there because of the federal forces having sealed off the city, they tried to return to their base. While zig-zagging around they ran into a 50-man contingent of APPO followers who yanked them out of their vehicle. After presenting papers showing their true intent, they were still being held while, "waiting for someone to come and get them." Apparently it has not occurred to APPO to simply allow them to drive away in their Suburban.
There was a violent confrontation somewhere on the edge of the city as the PFP moved slowly forward. I think this took place on Símbolos Patrios. According to the news reports, the federales are on their way towards Plaza del Valle (and yours truly) to confront the "students" at the university.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
Ah, youth. Those kids! What'll they think of next?
What they are thinking and doing right now is preparing for a confrontation with the federales. I just walked down towards the university and it doesn' look nice. Students, or those masquerading as students, have hijacked 8 vehicles that I could see from the south. I would assume they have done the same to the north. Buses, trucks and trailers have been jijacked and are being used to block Avenida Universidad, from Plaza Oaxaca (Soriana/Fábricas de Francia)) to the university. One of the vehicles is a propane gas tanker, property of Gas de Oaxaca. Its tires have been punctured.
The "students" are mostly masked, striding up and down the boulevard with chests puffed out, demonstrating their willingness to suffer grievious injury or death in support of their cause, whatever of that remains. Caos reigns in and around the plaza's parking lot. Cars and taxis driving around in circles trying to find a way out. Why people are out driving around in the face of this rather well publicized scrum, I do not know.
The "students" have set up barricades up and down the boulevard, blocking both north and southbound traffic. About every 50 meters or so the road is blocked with vehicles, tires, stacks of firewood or boulders. They began setting fire to the tires about 30 minutes ago. The federales have a helicopter in the air circling above the university, planning their approach.
The almost wholly peaceful entrance into the city by the federal forces looks likely to turn violent at the university. I could get no photos. It's just too dangerous. I am highly alergic to the sight of my own blood.
I'm going to take another walk down there now and see what's happening.
Just to keep the record straight, the PFP and other federal forces are not being welcomed like the Americans arriving in Paris (after De Gaulle allowed us in, that is). While everyone I have talked to is pleased that this may finally be coming to an end, no one is particularly pleased that federal forces have entered the city to effect that termination. Suspicion of both federal and state governments runs very high here and probably for good reason.
Fed forces marshalling south of Etla. The two vehicles in the center are anti-riot tanks and have snow plows mounted on the front. The water tanker to their right is there to replenish the water cannons.
Military helicopter used for surveillence.
Some citizens object to the feds' presence. The signs, left to right, read: "PFP get out" "Until the fall of URO" (the governor) "Oaxaca is not an army barracks. Army get out. Get out of Oaxaca URO and take your coterie with you." "Oaxaca is not an army barracks. Army get out. Have pity on your own children. URO get out."
I hear gunfire or maybe rockets from the university. I gotta go.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
Lots of trouble with Blogger. I can't publish anything. Please have patience.
Federal forces arrived in, uh, force yesterday and throughout the night. It is an impressive operation, so far, and has obviously been well planned. President Fox gave the order yesterday morning and, within hours, federal forces began arriving at the airport by jet and began approaching the city from the northwest and from the east by highway.
Both Federal Preventive Police (PFP) and military are involved. Reports are that at least 1500 PFP officers are here along with 600 troops. They also landed a Hercules C-130 full of heavy equipment. (I received a photo of the C-130 but now I can't find it. Grrr!) It looks like their strategy is to present an organized effort by a massive force and intimidate the APPO insurrectionists into backing down. It's working, so far.
They are doing a really smart thing here. They have sealed off the city to prevent more rabid APPO reinforcements from arriving. Avenida Universidad, near my home, has also been shut down. I would assume that all major thoroughfares throughout the city have also been shut down. One of their principal targets is Juarez University and its hijacked radio station. The station is still broadcasting to APPO followers but I don't think it will be for much longer.
The federal forces are moving in from the airport, from Etla (Mexico-Oaxaca highway from the northwest) and from Tule (Oaxaca-Isthmus highway from the east). They are moving very slowly, meter by meter, to allow the APPO personnel time to think carefully about what is about to happen and to abandon their barricades. So far, so good. The APPO insurrectionists have abandoned their barricades in a wholesale manner. Reports are that, as the APPistas flee, neighborhood residents are flocking into the streets to tear down the barricades before the federales arrive on the scene. Cool!
Reports from downtown are that only about 10 people remain in the city's center. They have abandoned their encampment, leaving behind their tarpaulins, tents, sleeping and cooking gear. Downtown restaurants have begun reopening in anticipation of some hungry federales when they get there.
Back to Juarez University. I walked a brief distance towards the university at about 8:15 this morning and I could see that the more radical students had already hijacked an ADO bus (luxury tour bus) and had it parked across the boulevard. There was also some kind of a big semi truck and trailer rig parked diagonally across the street. They won't be there long.
APPO radio is asking the "citizens of Oaxaca to come out into the streets to protest the federal repression." The response has been less than overwhelming. APPO has also called for a "massive march" for 4:00 this afternoon to protest "the repression of out human rights". It looks like they'll be lucky to get 50 people to participate in that one.
Two months ago, maybe even one month ago, APPO might have been able to generate more activism. However, after 5 long months of murders, rapes, robberies, kidnappings, no school for 1.3 million kids and a complete disruption of everyday life as well as economic losses suffered by the citizens amounting to more than a billion dollars, most everyone just wants this to end.
And, in a no small aside, Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz is still in office. Or, as La Crónica put it so succinctly yesterday, "He's glued to his chair."
It should be over soon. Let the cleanup begin.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
16 NBA championships as coach, general manager, vice president or president of the Boston Celtics. No one else even comes close to such a record.
NBA Championships under Auerbach 1956-57; 1958-59; 1959-60; 1960-61 1961-62; 1962-63; 1963-64; 1964-65 1965-66; 1967-68; 1968-69; 1973-74 1975-76; 1980-81; 1983-84; 1985-86
NBA All Star players under Auerbach at Boston Bob Cousy 13 times John Havlicek 13 times Larry Bird 12 times Bill Russell 12 times Robert Parish 9 times Bill Sharman 8 times Dave Cowens 7 times Kevin McHale 7 times JoJo White 7 times Tom Heinsohn 6 times Ed Macauley 6 times Sam Jones 5 times Nate Archibald 3 times Antoine Walker 3 times Paul Pierce 3 times Danny Ainge 1 time Don Barksdale 1 time Bailey Howell 1 time Dennis Johnson 1 time Reggie Lewis 1 time Paul Silas 1 time TOTAL: 121
Celtic Players now in NBA Hall of Fame Ed Macauley John "Honey" Russell Arnold "Red" Auerbach (Coach) Bob Cousy Bill Russell Bill Sharman Frank Ramsey John Havlicek Sam Jones Tom Heinsohn Bob Houbregs Pete Maravich Clyde Lovelette K.C. Jones Dave Bing Nate "Tiny" Archibald Dave Cowens Bill Walton Bailey Howell Larry Bird Arnie Risen Kevin McHale Robert Parish Dominque Wilkins
Jersey numbers retired by the Boston Celtics under Red Auerbach Walter Brown - #1 - (Number retired October 17, 1964) The founder and first owner of the Boston Celtics franchise. He hired Red Auerbach.
Arnold 'Red' Auerbach - #2 - (Number retired January 4, 1985)
Dennis Johnson - #3 - (Number retired December 13, 1991)
Bill Russell - #6 - (Number retired March 12, 1972)
JoJo White - #10 - (Number retired April 9, 1982
Bob Cousy - #14 - (Number retired October 16, 1963)
Tom Heinsohn - #15 - (Number retired October 15, 1966)
Tom "Satch" Sanders - #16 - (Number retired January, 1973)
John Havlicek - #17 - (Number retired October 13, 1978)
Dave Cowens - #18 - (Number retired February 8, 1981)
Don Nelson - #19
Bill Sharman - #21 - (Number retired October 15, 1966)
Ed Macauley - #22 - (Number retired October 16, 1963)
Frank Ramsey - #23
Sam Jones - #24 - (number retired March 9, 1969)
K.C. Jones - #25 - (Number retired February 12, 1967)
Cedric Maxwell - #31 - (Number retired December 15, 2003)
Kevin McHale - #32 - (Number retired January 30, 1994)
Larry Bird - #33 - (Number retired February 4, 1993)
Reggie Lewis - #35 - (Number retired March 22, 1995)
Robert Parish - #00 - (Number retired January 18, 1998)
Jim Loscutoff - LOSCY (Specifically asked that his #18 not be retired so that someone else could wear it for the Celtics. That number was later worn by Dave Cowens and retired with his name on it.)
Red Auerbach -- Rest In Peace
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
The Oaxaca international airport has been closed to commercial traffic. It is being reported that at least 6 flights of federal forces and "anti-riot" equipmment have disembarked and are marshalling at the airport. An Aerolitoral flight from Mexico City arrived at about 11:30 and was turned away. The traffic controllers must have forgotten that it was on its way.
An APPO spokesman has called for APPO aficionados to reinforce the barricades. At the same time APPO radio (the hijacked Juarez University radio station) is calling for APPO personnel to abandon the barricades and avoid confrontations with federal police. What to do? What to do?
Meanwhile, here in the capitol city of Oaxaca de Juarez, we wait.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
FROM THE LEFT: Red shirt with rifle: Juan Carlos Soriano Velasco aka "El Chapulin" (The Grasshopper), identified as a policeman; Dark jacket with pistol: Manuel Aguilar, identified as City Personnel Manager; Red shirt with pistol: Avel (sic) Santiago Zárate, identified as city councilman in charge of public security.
It is and has been widely ballyhooed that the APPO insurrectionists are not armed. One irate left-wing commenter went so far as to state, "It's a well known fact that APPO is not armed." Sorry lady, whomever you are sitting up there on your fat ass, but it's a well known fact that APPO is, indeed, armed. The problem has been that photographers have to be so careful around the APPO barricades and the APPO roving gangs, called "brígadas móviles" (mobile brigades). Any unwanted photo can result in a beating and destruction of equipment.
Photographers have to "register" with APPO and receive a permit. These permits are regularly canceled and then grudgingly reissued whenever APPO officials receive complaints from their followers about photos or APPO sees photos in the newpapers that are, uh, less than complimentary. Reporters have been reduced to reporting "gunshots" and "scattered gunshots of indeterminant origen" to describe gunfights.
So the following photos are a rarity. These photos show quite clearly that APPO thugs are armed. The first photo shows an APPO gunman en flagrante (shootin' at sumbody).
APPO not armed?
More unarmed APPO insurrectionists
Below is Flavio Sosa, the leader of APPO.
He has a third grade education and is a convicted felon. He spent time in prison (he denies this) for ripping off (he denies this also) a CONASUPO community store which he and his family managed for the government. When he got out of jail, he was befriended and still is supported financially by ex-governor José Murat Casab, a long-time political rival of current governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. It has been charged by the political party Alternativa that Murat Casab is using Flavio Sosa to "settle accounts" with Ruiz Ortiz. Alternativa says it has presented evidence of this to the federal attorney general for action. That's a laugh.
He supposedly owns a fleet of 50 taxis although the source of the money he used to buy 50 taxis is unknown. He has two daughters who are enrolled in a private French/English/Spanish school here in Oaxaca de Juarez (he denies this also but the children's friends say otherwise) while 1.3 million other school children throughout the state have had no classes for 5 months.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
APPO has called on its forces to abandon many street barricades so that barricades in "strategic areas" can be reinforced. APPO uses the hijacked Juarez University radio station to communicate with its people. The station went off the air at 9:00 and an announcer said it would remain off the air for at least one hour to avoid "overheating" its teams at the barricades.
The federales have begun flying into the airport with 3 transports reported to have landed so far. It is also being reported that truckloads of federales have begun moving from the isthmus where several thousand are believed to have been stationed over the past two months.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
President Vicente Fox has finally decided to take some action to recover control of the state of Oaxaca. He will begin moving federal forces into the state, with the largest concentration here in the capitol city. Fox announced that the federal forces would initially include armed Federal Preventive Police (PFP) with anti-riot tanks to begin removing the barricades that are set up all over the state. They would be followed by "unarmed" preventive police to maintain order over the long term.
Since much of the violence and killing over the past 5 months has been in outlying areas of the state, the PFP will have its hands full. When they begin trying to remove the barricades here in Oaxaca de Juarez, they'll also have their hands full. This should be an interesting day.
There was yet another shooting death late yesterday afternoon, bring the casualty toll over the past 24 hours to 3 dead and at least a dozen more wounded.
Ambassador Garza has issued a statement, made personally, abhorring the violence and lawlessness and, once again, urging Americans to avoid the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
Indymedia New York's reporter, BRAD WILL, was shot in the chest and die before get the hospital, while Oswaldo Ramírez, photographer for Milenio Diario, has also been shot and is injured in the foot.
THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT BRAD FROM A PERSON WHO WAS THERE WITH HIM: - He was at the Santa Lucia Barricade - He was shot from a distance of 30-40 meters right in the pit of the stomach - They say it was urban paramilitary priistas in plain clothes who shot him - People then pulled him away to safety; its confirmed that he's dead; his body is at the red cross in oaxaca - 3 additional dead (4 total); 1 member of radio universidad was injured, he went to the hospital in a volkswagen cuz no ambulances would come
Well, there is only one dead and that is Bradley Will. There are 5 wounded, none seriously. The ambulance can clearly be seen in the photos here as well as what happened to the ambulance. You won't get that from Indymedia, however.
Look at the photos. Who are you going to believe, Indymedia or your lying eyes
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
Ambassador Garza has confirmed that Bradley Will was an American and that American officials are trying to find and notify his family. I'll stop posting photos of him out of respect for his family which may not yet know of his death. I was about to post one that clearly shows his face but that doesn't seem especially appropriate now.
Note: I've got a guy sliding pool photos to me even before Notimex gets them but Notimex can post them much faster than I.
The Indymedia reporter who was fatally shot today was fully dressed in black tee shirt, grey parachute pants, tennis shoes and carrying a batterypack on his back when he was shot. TV news footage from both TV Azteca and Televisa clearly show him in the middle of the APPO blockade. Then, as two or three bystanders attempt to administer to him after he was shot, a guy in a white tee shirt and cowboy hat strips off his pants and runs away. There do not appear to be any paramedics treating him in any of the photos that I have seen.
In the TV news footage there were a number of masked APPO personnel throwing rocks at a building, which is not in the film, prior to the gunfire. It must have been close because I could clearly hear the rocks striking something metallic. I say it was a building because they seemed to be throwing the rocks at something far taller than a car or pickup truck. Later news footage shows them lobbing rocks over a building.
The TV footage shows a guy launch a homemade rocket down the street towards the shooters. Then an APPO operative begins backing a large dumptruck down the street towards the shooters with a contingent of about 20 using the truck for cover. However, the shooters continue moving forward and the dump truck driver gets cold feet, throws the truck into a forward gear and accelerates back towards his own people. At this point everybody started running like hell to both avoid getting shot and run over by the dumptruck.
The TV news footage does not show the burning pickup truck but does clearly show the faces of at least two of the shooters. Check that: I just saw additional footage of a burning SUV, not a pickup truck. The newsman on Televisa said that the Oaxacan authorities had not been able to identify the shooters. That would mean that they are not holed up in the Municipal Palace as was being reported earlier.
The Televisa newscaster showed his film several times and pointed out that the shooters appeared to have arrived and then waited some distance away. Televisa had cameras both behind and in front of the shooters. They are shown looking back over their shoulders several times and then suddenly moving forward in concert. The newscaster said that this indicated that they were awaiting a command from someone. He may or may not be right about that. It is apparent that two of the shooters move forward simultaneously as though on command. TV newscasters are appealing to the public to help identify the shooters.
The TV Azteca newscaster has just interviewed Governor Ruiz Ortiz live on the air. He pointedly asked the governor, "Were those your men who did the shooting?" The governor replied that no, all of the state's policemen are confined to their barracks and have been for a month to avoid just such a confrontation and subsequent result. He blamed the shooting on pro APPO forces vs con APPO forces and said that it was a result of the environment of general lawlessness that exists today in Oaxaca. He clearly blames APPO for all of the violence just as APPO blames the governor for it all.
The governor did repeat his call for federal intervention. He said that he has repeatedly asked for federal preventive police and that only their presence in the city could return order to the streets.
I don't know if these were the governor's men or not. It is not correct to blame the governor for all of the violence just as it would not be correct to blame APPO. However, it is APPO personnel and APPO followers who are manning the barricades, burning buses, cars and trucks, throwing rocks and waving Molotov cocktails around.
What I do know is that if federal forces do not enter the city to restore order, today's bloodshed is just the begining. I just cannot understand President Fox's hesitancy. Felipe Calderon takes office on December 1 and it would be a travesty if Fox handed this off to the new president. This insurgency has now cost the second poorest Mexican state, and eventually the federal government, more than a billion dollars. Maybe Americans can afford to toss around the odd billion as though it were cabfare but the Mexicans don't have that kind of money.
What strikes me as very odd is the fact that there were so many cameras filming at the time of this confrontation. Indymedia, TV Azteca and Televisa all have film shot at the location (Televisa both in front of and behind the shooters) and in both the TV Azteca and Televisa footage there are at least two other camermen visible with cameras and battery backpacks. Why so many newsmen at this particular site? I dunno. It's almost like this was set up by someone. I'll try to find out. Don't hold your breath because, if this runs true to form, after an incident like this everyone gets really closed mouthed for a time.
Note: There is still some ongoing confusion over the name of the dead reporter. I believe that his name was Bradley Will. In the initial posting, I referred to him as Bradley Wheyler. So says Indymedia New York.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
APPO radio (Juarez University radio) is reporting that the body of a teacher was discovered about 1.5 miles outside Oaxaca City this afternoon. That brings today's casualty tally to 2 dead and 12 wounded in at least 3 incidents. Some of this is internecine warfare between neighbors fed up with the ongoing disruption of their lives. The incident where the reporter was killed is a strange one.
There is just no way that I can believe that government sponsored thugs engaged in that one. They may be, in fact, police officers. But under no circumstances would they have been ordered to attack a group inside the city in broad daylight with photographers and cameraman standing all around. Additionally, if they were government sponsored, they would have all worn ski masks.
This incident looks to me like one or more of the policemen tried to run the APPO barricade. The APPO insurgents then set fire to the vehicle, not realizing that the men inside were police. The police left and returned within minutes with weapons and reinforcements. They were really pissed off or they would have taken a bit more time to disguise themselves.
Also, they arrived on foot with no apparent escape plan or method. They then fled, still on foot, after the shootings. Whether or not they are truly holed up inside the Municipal Palace is still not known.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
Bradley Will - or Wheyler, being carried to an ambulance
The name and nationality of the Indymedia journalist killed this afternoon in a shootout in Oaxaca is now in some doubt. He was initially reported to have been Bradley Will, an American working as a photographer for Indymedia Mexico. It is now being reported that his name was Bradley Wheyler, either American or German, a cameraman for Indymedia, which was supporting the APPO insurgency.
Confusion reigns as shooting breaks out.
Here are some of the shooters. I count 3 armed and possibly 6.
This may also be the last photo taken by Bradley Will, or Wheyler.
Note that the shooter in the last photo does not appear in the group shown approaching in photo 3. He came along behind the initial group. The white truck shown behind the shooters in photo 3 now appears on the left of the last photo, or to the shooter's right. The smoke from the burning pickup is quite visible in the last photo. Also, the street barricade and those manning it are visible behind the shooter in the final photo. The shooters were not attacking the barricade but were after those who were burning the pickup.
In the colonia La Experimental (you pass it on your way to or from the airport), a group of men arrived to tear down the blockades to the entrance of the colonia. Many gunshots were exchanged between them and the APPO personnel manning the barricades. Six are reported wounded in this exchange. Friends and neighbors of both groups are trying to keep them calm and prevent any more bloodshed.
That's a tally so far today of 1 dead and about 12 wounded in at least two different gunfights.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
UPDATE:The American's name is now being reported as Bradley Will, working for Indymedia Mexico. Well, that would explain the casual dress. There were 4 others wounded in the shooting, 3 whose wounds don't sound too serious and one whose wound -- in the side at belt level -- sounds a bit more worrisome.
The incident is now being reported as occurring when a pickup truck tried to get through a barricade. The APPO personnel manning the barricade set the vehicle on fire. Within minutes, a small group of men, reportedly Municipal Policemen, arrived and tried to recover the truck. When they were met by threats of Molotov cocktails, they opened fire. They reportedly are now inside the Municipal Palace (City Hall) and that building has been surrounded by armed APPO personnel. They are threatening to force their way into the building and try to take out the suspected shooters.
It is also being reported that shots are ringing out sporadically around the building. It is not clear whether the shots are coming from or being directed into the building.
An as yet unidentified American, reportedly working as some kind of journalist, was shot in the abdomen in a clash in downtown Oaxaca and killed. I'll get his name as soon as I can and let you know who it was and what he was doing here. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a gunfight broke out between APPO supporters manning a street barricade and others reported to have been people who lived in the surrounding area.
It has not been uncommon for trouble to erupt between outsiders who move into a neighborhood to set up street barricades and the neighborhood residents who object to the inconvenience as well as the crime that the barricade attracts. That may or may not be what happened today.
As you can see in the first and second photos, he was dressed only in a pair of shorts with apparently no shirt nor shoes. That would have be considered a bit unusual for a journalist. I'll get more details as they become available.
American Bradley Will lies mortally wounded from gunshot to abdomen.
Wounded American Bradley Will being carried to an ambulance.
Another wounded APPO supporter is carried towards an ambulance.
APPO supporters and innocent bystanders run for cover after shooting breaks out again.
Help for the wounded may be slow in coming after this. I do not know if the attack on this ambulance contributed in any way to the American's death.
It does not cease to amaze me how many people, mostly Americans, are not taking the violence and danger here seriously. I still receive emails saying, "Everyone is so friendly," and, "We didn't have any trouble at all." They then go on to castigate me for blowing the situation out of proportion. Well, maybe so. If they consider the 7 Mexicans who have been murdered and the one who was decapitated by the steel cable stretched across a street as, in some manner, proportional, then maybe they're right. My view on it is that a murder is a murder. Furthermore, as far as the "We haven't had any trouble at all,", neither had the now dead American, at least not up until today. It only takes one time, as he discovered, much too late.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
Oaxaca's Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, now brimming with confidence after the teachers' union voted to abandon the APPO insurgency, declares that he's had enough of the situation in Oaxaca and he really, really, really means it . . . this time.
In an interview with El Universal TV, Ruiz Ortiz said that "the way of negotiation and dialogue has been exhausted" and "the situation must be resolved by the end of this week." Uh, OK. And how does the governor propose to resolve the situation?
Well, he's got a grand plan which even he admits must be implemented by the federal government and not by his state government. The plan includes the use of federal police -- who would be disarmed so as "not to repress the legitimate teachers' movement" -- to come in and maintain order. The plan also includes "50 to 100 representatives of the National Human Rights Comission, or as many as are necessary", "80 to 100 members of the local, national and international press", "notaries" (for official records of the proceedings) as well as representatives of the local (state) Human Rights Commission.
Disarmed police? I'll bet the federal officers are lining up right now to volunteer for this duty. The officers are no doubt fighting to be first in line to come down here, be overwhelmed by a group of club-brandishing Neanderthals, dragged 30 blocks through the city and then tied to a tree in the Zócalo.
In return, he says, the blockades nust be lifted and businesses allowed to reopen. If not, I guess he'll hold his breath until he turns blue, or something. The governor was asked if he was prepared to "put to one side the ongoing negotiations". He replied that "95% of the demands by the insurgents and counter-offers by the Secretary of the Interior were made against and by my state government." "I repeat," he repeated, "95% of the proposals and counter proposals had to be made by my government. And I don't share the belief that a minority group with shouting, hat-waving, and through coersion pretends to overthrow any authority (meaning he, his own self)"
He addressed the "principal actors" in this little drama, "We are interested in resolving it because in no way am I satisfied with a city under seige, economic losses and a frightened citizenry."
Then came this unfortunate exchange. When asked about the charges by some insurgents that the government was using paramilitary forces to intimidate them, the governor replied that his government didn't need paramilitary hit squads because "My government has the police." Hmmm. That could be construed a couple of different ways. He could have been saying, "My government doesn't need paramilitary groups to maintain law and order because the police will do that." Or, he could have been saying, "My government doesn't need paramilitary forces to drive around blowing people away because my police will do that."
I report, you decide.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
The striking teachers union has voted to return to classrooms this coming Monday, October 30. It will be a short workweek in any case because of the Day of the Dead holiday on Thursday and Friday.
The final vote tally was announced as 31,078 for an end to the strike and 23,387 for a continuation of the anarchy. APPO has reacted as expected. In addition to the attempted coersion yesterday and again this morning with gunfire and burning vehicles a block from the teachers headquarters, APPO has begun to lock down the city. There were the usual charges of vote manipulation to which a union spokesman replied, "If someone's going to level such charges, he'd better bring some proof."
My wife and children left by highway for safe haven in Puebla at 5:30 and as of 8:10 they were still stuck in traffic on the far northwest side of the city, in front of the Tec University. That's still about 5 miles short of Etla and the toll road to Puebla, usually a 20 minute trip, at most. I don't know yet if they're going to get out of the city or not.
My neighbors have given up. He was the sales manager at, I believe, the Peugeot dealership. He got a job in Mexico City this week and told Peogeot, "Adios to Oaxaca." He and his wife told us that they initially loved the city but the political climate and the climate of fear and rampant crime was more than they had bargained for when Peugeot moved them here just a year ago. They drove off behind the moving van at about 4:00 this afternoon. That's the second set of neighbors we've lost in 6 months. The Mormon temple president and his wife were moved by the LDS to a compound built especially for church officials near Juarez University. That move was also for security reasons.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
At least 5 gunshots were fired in the vicinity of the Hotel Magisterial where the striking teachers were trying to hold their latest vote on returning to work . . .or not. Then, a block from the hotel, a group of masked gunmen set fire to a bus they had hijacked and driven to the spot.
All of this "respect" for the teachers' decision which was promised by APPO was more than the teachers could bear and forced them to suspend their poll and evacuate the hotel. Section 22 leader Enrique Rueda Pacheco did not even try to put in an appearance at the hotel.
Unofficial word from inside the hotel indicates that the teachers are generally in favor of returning to their classrooms by a margin of 27,000 for and 16,000 against. There have already been charges of vote manipulation.
I guess that the suspension of voting under threat of lead poisoning or immolation doesn't count as vote manipulation.
Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made by Mexican indigenous artists. Thanks!
