Photos, Call to Action from OAXACA
Below is an URGENT call for international solidarity from the APPO here in Oaxaca. Please forward this call everywhere. Also below are links to just a few of the photos that I took of the Battle for Oaxaca and the intense repression we saw here on July 16, 2007. The following is a repost from an anarchist comrade currently in Oaxaca.Comrades,
Below is an URGENT call for international solidarity from the APPO here in Oaxaca. Please forward this call everywhere. Also below are links to just a few of the photos that I took of the Battle for Oaxaca and the intense repression we saw here on July 16, 2007.
It´s up to independent media to expose the truth about what has happened here in Oaxaca, against the lies of the corporate media. The images below
chronicle the arc of the day´s unfolding - beginning with the dances and songs of the People´s Guelaguetza, through the the peaceful march, the
police attack, and the battles in the streets.
Tonight we will be documenting the International Day Against Repression, remembering those imprisoned, disappeared, injured, and dead. Following, we will be posting a full report on all events that have transpired here in Oaxaca.
Images from the Frontlines of the Battle for Oaxaca:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88396.html
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88414.html
http://nyc.indymedia.org/es/2007/07/88435.html
Oaxaca, July 16, 2007
URGENT ACTION--PLEASE SEND PETITION BELOW AND FORWARD WIDELY
NEW ESCALATION OF POLICE REPRESSION AGAINST THE POPULAR MOVEMENT IN OAXACA!
This past Monday, July 16, at approximately 11:30 a.m., elements of the Municipal Police, Preventive Police, and Industrial and Banking Police, attacked with tear gas and rocks, marchers of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and teachers of the National Teachers Workers
Union, Section 22, who were trying to join the local festivities Fiesta Popular Oaxaqueña, in Guelaguetza Auditorium, Cerro del Fortn de la Ciudad de Oaxaca.
During this attack, several police brigades brutally beat the teachers and peaceful marchers, throwing tear gas against local commercial offices, private homes, and public buildings. Moreover, the violent escalation ended up in several wounded, included journalists from the Reforma, Noticias, Marca, and Tiempo newspapers, who were covering the brutal beatings imparted by the police. Although not yet officially confirmed, we would like to report 50 wounded, 45 people detained, and at least one dead.
These violent acts are marked by the State Government actions during Guelaguetza 2007, where areas of Cerro del Fortn were sealed off in which members of the Mexican Military Elite, the Preventative Federal Police, and the Federal Agency of Investigation participated. This operation was
coordinated by the Secretara de Protección Ciudadana, whose objective was to prevent the celebration organized by APPO and Section 22. Nevertheless, the Administration had declared days earlier their absolute respect for such peaceful celebration.
We consider that this incident is one of many provocations implemented by the state government against the APPO and is an irrefutable sign, moreover, of a government that is unable to dialogue, opting instead for the irrational use of police force against civilians. These actions are clear
evidence of a recurring violation of human rights in the Oaxaca region, illegal under international treaties signed by Mexico.
Therefore, we make the following immediate demands:
• For an end to police represion, harrasment, and intimidation of the social and popular movements in Oaxaca
• We condenm governmental actions and indiscriminate use of force by the State and Federal police
• We demand the release of all political prisioners, making Federal and State officials responsible in the case of arbitrary detentions and disappearances of civilians.
Send your petitions to with copies to human rights entities:
Presidente FELIPE DE JESÚS CALDERÓN HINOJOSA
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, M(c)xico DF
Tel: +52 (55) 27891100
Fax: +52 (55) 52772376
felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Licenciado Francisco Javier Ramrez Acuña,
Secretario de Gobernación,
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,
Delegación Cuauht(c)moc, M(c)xico D.F., C.P. 06600, M(c)xico,
Fax: +52 (55) 5093 3414
frjramirez@segob.gob.mx
Copies to:
Louise Arbour, Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos
Humanos, (High Commissioner for United Nations Human Rights Commission)
tb-petitions@ohchr.org, oacnudh@hchr.org.mx
Sr. Santiago Cantón
Secretario Ejecutivo
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, (Executive Secretary of the
Interamerican Human Rights Commission)
cidhoea@oas.org
Dr. Jos(c) Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Perif(c)rico Sur 3469, Col.
San Jerónimo Ldice,
10200, M(c)xico, D.F.
Tel: 631 00 40, 6 81 81 25
Fax: 56 81 84 90
Lada sin costo: 01 800 00 869
correo@cndh.org.mx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------
Oaxaca de Juárez, 16 de Julio de 2007
ACCIÓN URGENTE
¡NUEVA ESCALADA DE REPRESIÓN POLICIACA
CONTRA MOVIMIENTO POPULAR EN OAXACA!
Este lunes 16 de julio, aproximadamente a las 11:30 a.m., elementos de la
Polica Municipal, Polica Preventiva y Polica Bancaria e Industrial
enfrentaron, con bombas de gas lacrimógeno y piedras, a manifestantes de la
Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca y maestros de las Sección XXII del
Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación que intentaron subir al
Auditorio Guelaguetza, localizado en el Cerro del Fortn de la Ciudad de
Oaxaca, como parte de los festejos de la Fiesta Popular de los oaxaqueños.
En este enfrentamiento, los diversos cuerpos policacos golpearon
brutalmente a maestros y manifestantes, además lanzaron bombas de gas
lacrimógeno en contra de establecimientos comerciales, casas particulares y
edificios públicos. As mismo, en la escalada violenta resultaron lesionados
reporteros gráficos de los periódicos Reforma, Noticias, Marca y Tiempo,
quienes daban cobertura a la feroz golpiza de la polica a los
manifestantes. Extraoficialmente se menciona la detención de 45 personas, 50
heridos y por lo menos un muerto.
Estos hechos violentos se enmarcan en el dispositivo implementado por el
Gobierno Estatal denominado "Guelaguetza 2007", mediante el cual se acordonó
el Cerro del Fortn y en el cual participan elementos de Elite del Ej(c)rcito
Mexicano, Polica Federal Preventiva, Agencia Federal de Investigaciones,
Polica Preventiva y Polica Municipal de Oaxaca. Este operativo coordinado
por la Secretara de Protección Ciudadana tena el objetivo de impedir la
celebración de la Guelaguetza Popular por parte de la APPO y la Sección XXII
en dicho inmueble, no obstante que el Gobierno del Estado declaró das antes
su respeto absoluto a esta celebración.
Consideramos que este hecho se suma a las provocaciones implementadas por el
Gobierno Estatal en contra de la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca y
además es un signo ominoso de un Gobierno que ante la incapacidad del
diálogo recurre una vez más al uso irracional de la Fuerza Pública. Estas
acciones son envidencia de la recurrented violación de derechos humanos en
Oaxaca, ilegales bajo tratados internacionales firmados por el Estado de
M(c)xico.
Por todo lo anterior solicitamos se pronuncien por lo siguiente:
• Por el cese a la represión policaca y hostigamiento al Movimiento
Social y Popular de Oaxaca.
• Reprobamos la acción gubernamental en cuanto al uso indiscriminado de
la Fuerza Pública Estatal y Federal.
• Demandamos la libertad de todo prisionero poltico, responsabilizando
al Gobierno Estatal y Federal en caso de llegarse a registrar detenciones
arbitrarias o desapariciones en contra de los manifestantes.
Mandar comunicaciones a:
Presidente FELIPE DE JESÚS CALDERÓN HINOJOSA
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, M(c)xico DF
Tel: +52 (55) 27891100
Fax: +52 (55) 52772376
felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Licenciado Francisco Javier Ramrez Acuña,
Secretario de Gobernación,
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,
Delegación Cuauht(c)moc, M(c)xico D.F., C.P. 06600, M(c)xico,
Fax: +52 (55) 5093 3414
frjramirez@segob.gob.mx
Copias a:
Louise Arbour, Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos
Humanos, (High Commissioner for United Nations Human Rights Commission)
tb-petitions@ohchr.org, oacnudh@hchr.org.mx
Sr. Santiago Cantón
Secretario Ejecutivo
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, (Executive Secretary of the
Interamerican Human Rights Commission)
cidhoea@oas.org
Dr. Jos(c) Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Perif(c)rico Sur 3469, Col.
San Jerónimo Ldice,
10200, M(c)xico, D.F.
Tel: 631 00 40, 6 81 81 25
Fax: 56 81 84 90
Lada sin costo: 01 800 00 869
correo@cndh.org.mx