Oaxaca, Mexico: Macho Machiavelli

APPO secretly supported the entrance and occupation of Oaxaca by the PFP. In a document, titled "Unity Is the Way", released by the FPR (Popular Revolutionary Front -- the commies) and read aloud to the press by APPO's very own professor Zenén Bravo Castellanos, APPO has admitted that it welcomed the arrival of the PFP in October.

 

The FPR in the Zócalo in July, 2006

The position taken by many "consequential groups" within APPO was that the arrival and occupation by the PFP was concrete evidence of the "ungovernability" of the state of Oaxaca. "Ungovernability" is one of the prerequisites for the federal removal of a governor from office.

In addition, APPO feared that, if the PFP withdrew, APPO would "cease to be national news". In fact, the federal Secretary of the Interior made an offer to APPO just days before the final showdown in the streets on November 25. Interior offered to allow APPO to march back into the Zócalo, occupied by the PFP, and hold a demonstration, but only if APPO agreed to leave the Zócalo at the conclusion of the festivities. Interior pledged that if this occurred, the PFP would withdraw within 3 days. In addition, Interior insisted that all concerned parties, both APPO and the federal government, sign a document detailing the agreement.

APPO refused. Instead, the APPO leadership opted for a circle around the PFP in the Zócalo. This seige led to the November 25 confrontation in the streets which ultimately crushed APPO and sent its leaders scurrying into hiding.

The Secretary of the Interior offered to allow us to hold a demonstration in the Zócalo, in exchange for which we would promise to leave after our mobilization. However, those groups which today are said to be correspondent to the fight, opposed it.

. . .

"and we were to promise not to take the Zócalo and Interior promised that, in no less than three days, the PFP would leave the city, for which we would have to sign a document.

But the comrades who today oppose APPO's participation in the elections would not agree to sign the text. Instead, they proposed to surround the federal police who were guarding the Zócalo."

Now, one might wonder why a key APPO leader would read aloud such a damning expose which clearly identifies APPO as the agressor and the federal government and the PFP as the peacemakers, even though I've been insisting that this was so since last July. Wonder no longer.

Professor Zenén Bravo Castellanos is a candidate for higher political office. He's running for a state congressional seat. Obviously, Bravo Castellanos believes that APPO should be participating in this election. He is in the minority as APPO has only put forward four candidates for public office in the upcoming elections. That's right . . . just four. So what better way to take a whack at your opponents inside the APPO leadership councils than to expose them as war mongers and the self admitted instigators of the November 25 debacle?


Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made
by Mexican indigenous artists.
Thanks!
Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries

TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, FPR, APPO, Zenén Bravo Castellanos