Oaxaca, Mexico: APPO retreats to Juarez University -- Governor to be gagged

UPDATED: Mark takes a tour. Please scroll down.

Here are some details as being reported by the Mexican media this morning:

• Governor Ruiz Ortiz pronounced "APPO's insurgency is finished."
  Cinco Señores is still blocked and Juarez University is in the hands of APPO. Not finished yet, I should think.
• Governor Ruiz Ortiz announced, "There were no injuries during yesterday's confrontation. "
  The Red Cross has some 80 hospitalized, other hospitals have not yet reported in. At least 3 reporters were hurt, one seriously after being struck in the head by a tear gas grenade. Two others, Amaury Guadarrama of Cuartoscuro and Abundio Nuñez Sánchez of El Financiero, were treated after being beaten by APPO thugs and accused of being a "government spy".
• The governor has determined that all of the problems here are caused by a "lack of federal funds and are not due to any errors on the part of his administration."
  
  The governor needs to be gagged for the duration.
  
  
• The State Courts building across the street from Parque Llano has been burned out as I winessed last night.
• At least 60 have been arrested.
  This is a significant number because The Fat Man's (Flavio Sosa's) army consists of some 300-500 thugs and 60 is a heavy loss percentage.
• The police, I'm unclear on whose police, whether the PFP federales or the state police, have taken control of Parque Llano.
• The APPO thugs fled for the university.
• Teatro Benito Juarez, in front of Parque Llano, has been destroyed.
• The Santo Domingo esplanade and garden have been heavily damaged.
  APPO punks ripped out stone to use to throw at the PFP
• The PFP actually made two advances north on Macedonio Alcalá.
  The first advance was to clear a two-block space between the PFP and the APPO attackers, rather than just stand there under APPO's barrage. After air surveillance reported that APPO was re-grouping at Santo Domingo for another attack, the PFP moved forward again and this time they did not stop.
• Some damage inside Santo Domingo. Estimates and photos not yet available. Many adult APPO marchers had taken refuge inside the buildings and the APPO gangs didn't dare try to destroy the church and museum with that many adults around.
• Any reports that you read about the violence exploding because of APPO's attempts to surround the PFP are NOT TRUE.
  
  APPO had this pretty well planned. The marchers had begun to spread out and take their positions around the outer perimeter of the Zócalo and the PFP, maintaining a seperation of at least 1 city block. The PFP did not try to stop them as the PFP's responsibility was to hold the city center, not send mom and pop bleeding and choking back to their mountain village. But a group of APPO thugs faced off against the PFP manning the green dumpster at Macedonio Alcalá and Morelos. At 3:05, the thugs started throwing rocks and firing marbles from their slingshots. The PFP returned the rocks to sender and PFP rooftop "snipers" began a barrage from their own slingshots. If you were to go shopping for marbles today, there are none to be had in the entire city. They are, however, free for the taking off of the city's streets.
  
  Within minutes the APPO gunners started firing their rockets at APPO belt buckles and the brawl was on. The PFP tear gas effectively put an end to the planned encirclement by APPO marchers as the adults were forced to flee. That left the streets to the APPO thugs or the PFP, whichever was stronger. In reality, the PFP made pretty short work of the APPO thugs, who were forced to resort to vandalism, beating reporters and making macho threats and declarations as they ran for their lives.
• The Fat Man also had to flee, but from the monsters he had helped create. He soaked himself in water and vinegar to combat the effects of the tear gas and disappeared from Santo Domingo under a barrage of rocks and insults from his own APPO thugs.
• City cleanup crews and the PFP are out trying to sweep up the mess this morning.
• Other crews are repainting the repainted slogans which were repainted over last week's repainting. There's been more paint used in this city in the last 6 months, to paint, repaint, repeat, than has been used here in the last 150 years. DuPont and PPG celebrate.
• 4 hotels were heavily damaged after APPO thugs breached their entrances: The Hotel Camino Real, being reported as "sacked", Hotel Parador Dominico, Hotel Real de Santo Domingo and Hotel de las Mariposas.
• They also burned out the Guelaguetza Travel Agency and more than a dozen shops and restaurants.
• It's being reported that the PFP, for the first time, used rubber bullets against the rioters.
• Tha APPO thugs broke into the churches La Merced, in the Santo Domingo esplanade, Los Siete Príncipes, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, La Compañía and El Carmen Alto y Bajo. The priests and other parishioners were unable to keep them out. They hauled in stolen carts from supermarkets filled with their gasoline bombs.
  

The State Courts building across from Parque Llano ablaze

At least 15 cars are reported to have been burned in front of Parque Llano.

The above photo was taken by a photographer who was able to get closer than I. My photo from last night, however, is considered "art", at least by yours truly.

The state police (PM) under the ultimate command of the PFP, are now attempting to take control of the city's streets. That's good news, I hope.

While the photo that I published yesterday of the marchers as they approached the south side of the city makes it appear as though it was a large crowd, Reforma and La Crónica are reporting that only about 10,000 participated. That may signal the end of APPO as a "mass popular movement" as the foreign media and the visiting anarchists and communists from Indy Media and Narco News have been so fond of reporting.

I have not checked their sites yet this morning because I have been too busy for Three Stooges type slapstick humor but I would imagine they are playing this as government repression of free speech, outrageous human rights violations, cold-blooded murder, Nazi-Brownshirt-jack booted-attacks-on-innocent sociology students, and yada, yada, yada.

I can tell you this. The affair yesterday was the third such that I have witnessed here. In all three, and yesterday's was a prime example, the PFP waited behind lines it had established a month ago for the attack it was sure would come. When the attack did come, the PFP responded in kind.

The difference between yesterday's confrontation and the previous confrontations was that the PFP has taken territory and seems to intend to hold it this time.

This city may now be ready to return to some sense of normality where one can, without molestation, visit Santo Domingo, take the kids bike riding to Parque Llano and have lunch on the Zócalo. It's really too soon to tell. As far as Juarez University is concerned, the rector and the students there can all now deal with the APPO thugs whom they have been so kindly hosting since July.

The rector was whining Friday that the university has lost 20 million pesos due to canceled classes. This is the same rector who has been squealing far and wide that the police cannot enter "his" university because it is "independent" and that would be a grave violation of the constitution. Let him eat cake.

GAG THE GOVERNOR!

I took a stroll around town just after noon. The governor was also out but we didn't run into each other. News media now report more than 150 arrested yesterday afternoon and throughout the night. There must have been some type of operation against the APPO thugs in Parqque Llano at about 10:00 last night, but no one is reporting anything.

At a gift shop a half block from the ADO station a lady was aweeping up the shattered glass from her front window. She told me the APPo punks were chased out of the park and fled down Niños Heroes. They stopped to smash windows all along the way.

The ADO bus station was packed with people. Most of them were APPO marchers from yesterday who had originally intended to be camping around the PFP in the Zócalo. The Fat Man's thugs ruined those plans by attacking the PFP and getting the entire group booted out of the city.

There are reportedly C-130 Hercules transports landing at the airport now disgorging what are supposed to be 2000 more PFP officers. The intent now, I believe, is to attack the APPO barricades at Cinco Señores and also to enter and clean out the university. APPO is to be driven from the city. We'll see.

Mark takes a tour

PFP helicopter keeping an eye on the city

Street constrution crews back at work -- on a Sunday!

Navy helicopter taking videos and photos

When APPO got chased out of Parque Llano last night, they struck along Niños Heroes

Stones from Parque Llano and a battering ram used to attack the Federal Courts building

Federal Court parking lot. There were 13 cars burned here plus more in a lot on the other side.

Stringing fence wire across destroyed entrances of Teatro Benito Juarez. All glass, all gone.

Big Rally for Peace in Parque Llano. Whenever a police convoy passed, cheers and applause.

Police patrol convoys. The first in the city since early August.

The next three photos are of the offices of the Hotel and Motel Association - Asociación Mexicana de Hoteles y Moteles de Oaxaca - at Reforma and Berriozabal. A nice young lady who was sitting at the destroyed entrance awaiting the Ministerio Público (the detectives) invited me to go on in and take some photos. None of the people who worked here needed their jobs, anyway. They are all rich. And the hoteliers certainly don't need any help in attracting guests here, do they?








Santo Domingo. These 5 stones are all that remain around the outer gardens. No other discernable damage - a miracle.

Hosing down the street beside Santo Domingo. This was formerly part of APPO's camp.

Macedonio Alcalá, 1 block from Santo Domingo. Riot? What riot?


Small shop that sold hand sewn clothing from Zapotecs. Burned out.



The PFP officers manning the lines around the Zócalo were relaxed, smiling and letting everbody through. I was carrying a bag and they took a quick look inside but no hassles. They won a big one yesterday and they know it.

Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made
by Mexican indigenous artists.
Thanks!
TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, APPO, Waterloo