November 26, 2006
APPO Communiqué
Oaxaca: City of Resistance
POPULAR ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA
TO THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA
TO THE PEOPLES OF MEXICO AND OF THE WORLD
TO THE MEDIA
The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, after the aggression that our people have suffered in recent hours, in the framework of our fight for a profound transformation in the political, social, and cultural situation, in order to overcome the ancestral misery and hunger to which our people have been subject to by the oppressors…
APPO flyers on NYC IMC
To frame the day of struggle that we planned for yesterday, November 25th, the APPO considered a “mega-march”, which left from the Official House in Santa Maria Coyotopec with the aim of concluding in the historic center of the city with the establishment of a siege [alt. tr.: ring] around the Federal Preventative Police (PFP) who were found occupying the zócalo of this city, and the siege would be in a peaceful manner with contact with the PFP, and in view of the events that unfolded yesterday, the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca makes the following CONSIDERATIONS:
That Ulises Ruiz Ortiz has, since a few days ago, declared that the operation of a plan to obtain control of the city before December 1st was beginning.
That the PFP has, in coordination with various police forces, assassins [alt. tr.: hitmen], paramilitaries, and thugs of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, since a few days ago, began to station themselves on various roofs in the historic center, where in many cases we received complaints from the neighbors that this was done with the permissions of the property owners, the idea being that from these places they would provoke aggressions against this movement.
That yesterday, after the commission of the Popular Council of the Peoples of Oaxaca went around to the majority of the intersections to establish the siege of the PFP, police, assassins and paramilitaries [who were] positioned on the roofs of various buildings in the historic center began to throw marbles, pepper spray and tear gas at our compañeros at various points to provoke a widespread aggression which was unleashed in an instant, in a widespread offensive, which consisted of the aggression of the PFP at various intersections, massive detentions of compañeros who were collected at various places in the city, the immediate actions of the thugs and paramilitaries that participated alongside the PFP and other police forces, many of whom fired guns against militants of the APPO.
That in view of this general offensive of the aggressors, the members of the APPO and the people in general made use of their legitimate right to defend themselves, to avoid a massacre against our people, making use of rocks, sticks, fireworks, and other objects that they could find along their way, now that the majority did not come prepared for a confrontation.
That after the preliminary information that we have up to now, there are 165 political prisoners, dozens of disappeared, hundreds of injured and wounded, and also various dead, which up to now we have not been able to confirm.
In view of this situation, the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca makes the following declarations:
We strongly condemn this attack of repression that our people has suffered, and they continue as in the worst periods of fascism in history.
We reaffirm our fight for a social, political and economic transformation, and the struggle for popular power [alt. trans.: power of the people], and we reaffirm that the fall of the tyrant Ulises Ruiz is the beginning of the reestablishment of peace and tranquility for Oaxacans, as is the immediate withdrawal of the PFP, who since their arrival have only increased the violence and ungovernability in Oaxaca.
We confirm that the struggle of the people of Oaxaca and the APPO is a struggle of the masses in which the people of Oaxaca are participating and has a civil and peaceful character, which is why we declare that the burning of various buildings in the city was not under the guidance, nor a decision, of the APPO.
We denounce that they, some moments ago, transferred various compañeros who were in the Miahuatlan de Porfirio Diaz prison, Oaxaca— among them the compañeros Cesar Mateos Benitez and Jorge Sosa Campos— to an unknown location, without a single motive, in that they have violated their most fundamental human rights.
The presence of the PFP and the incidents which occurred demonstrate that in the state of Oaxaca there exists ungovernability and that peace has not returned for the people of Oaxaca.
We declare that the struggle of the People of Oaxaca for the fall of URO continues because our day of struggle and our plan of action will continue developing.
For the above reasons, we make a call to the peoples of México and the whole World, to continue actions of solidarity with the people of Oaxaca and to stop the bloody repression that continues developing against our people, to the national and international press, to human rights organizations, to form brigades to assist this city to raise the incidents of violation of the most fundamental human rights against our people.
FRATERNALLY:
ALL THE POWER TO THE PEOPLE
POPULAR ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLES OF OAXACA
November 26th, 2006
—
source: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/11/79973.html
