Tuxtla Gutierrez – Hundreds of campesinos from various social organizations, members of the National Front of Struggle for Socialism (FNLS), today held 13 intermittent blockades of roads in Chiapas, in support of the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO).
The state leadership of the FNLS said in a statement that the blockades were held today from 8 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon, in the regions of Centro, Fraylesca, Altos, Selva, Fronteriza, Norte-Selva, Costa and Soconusco.
In two sections, on the road from the municipality of Venustiano Carranza to the community of Pujiltic and on the road that goes form Chiapa de Corzo to Acala, blockades were maintained by members of the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization (OCEZ). The road from Villaflores to Zaragoza was blockaded by members of the Popular Struggle Campesino Organization (OCLP).
The fourth and fifth blockades—held on the road that goes from San Cristobal de Las Casas to Ocosingo, at two kilometers from the turnoff to Cuxulja, and on the road that goes from Altamirano to Ocosingo and Comita’n—were led by members of OCEZ, the Popular Resistance Movement of the Southeast (MRPS), the Colectivo Tsoblej of UNACH [the Autonomous University of Chiapas] and activists from Section 7 of the Indigenous Education Level (NEI).
Other blockades were held on the southern frontier highway, near Marques de Comillas; between Chicomuselo and Frontera Comalapa, at the turnoff for Sabanilla; between Tila and Petalcingo, and on the international coastal highway in four municipalities: Mapastepec, Villa Comaltitlan, Tuzanta’n and Tuxtla Chico.
The protesters were said that these actions were held “to demonstrate our support and solidarity for the heroic struggle being waged by the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO)”.
They also condemned the “state terrorism” that APPO has been subjected to by the state and federal governments, through “paramilitary commandos, which have assassinated and wounded the social activists with impunity.”
“We demand a halt to the government repression against APPO, the immediate compliance with its legitimate demands and the unconditional freedom of the political prisoners, unjustly jailed during this valiant struggle which is an example for all the people of Mexico,” said the FNLS statement.
In a second point, they declared their support for the “national movement which has been struggling for the defense of the popular will, of political rights, and respect of the vote which was fraudulently stolen this past July 2. We firmly reject any intention of the State to use repression against the vigils which have been established in Mexico City.”
It also said: “We are ready to shut down all the roads of the ultra-right led by Felipe Calderon, who has been spuriously imposed as president of the Republic by Vicente Fox, the PAN and the dark sect of El Yunque, supported by the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) and the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation (TEPJF), as well as by the business oligarchy, the monopolies of radio and television, the ultra-conservative church, and various complicit political parties.”
The statement explained that today’s blockades were intermittent, and did not seek to interfere with the population, “but serve as a warning that we can undertake them in permanent manner in the event that the current ultra-right government continues its repressive actions against the Mexican people…”
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