2008 Woodie Awards
Civic unrest plagues study abroad location
Civilians are pitted against government in Oaxaca
Hillary Lowenberg Cynic Correspondent
Issue date: 11/14/06 Section: News
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The police chased protestors - who had been occupying the downtown square for the
past five months - onto the grounds of the University , which maintains a law of academic freedom, and therefore bans federal officers from having jurisdiction.
The conflict has been ongoing since the annual strike for improved teachers' benefits began on May 22. 70,000 teachers constitute the statewide union, which has taken over the square in downtown Oaxaca.
On June 14, Governor Ulises Ruiz ordered the police to use force, including throwing
tears gas from helicopters, to dismantle the protest.
In response, the teachers joined forces with organizations and activists to create the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), which has become the driving force in the uprising that demand the resignation of Ruiz.
On Sept. 21, 5,000 people marched to Mexico City to present their claims to the Senate.
Both Houses of the Congress passed declarations demandinging Ruiz to withdraw from office, according to The Washington Post. Gustavo Esteva, a Mexican intellectual, activist and UVM's 2006 commencement speaker, said, "In order to legally oust the governor, the Senate should declare 'desaparición de poderes,' which says that the constituted powers are no longer governing."
On Oct. 4, the minister of the interior invited 100 well-known Oaxacaquenos to a meeting in Mexico City to discuss and sign a social pact. However Indigenous leaders denounced the Pact on the grounds that Oaxacan minorities were not represented at the meeting and walked out.
The meeting did fulfill its function, no pact was signed, and a second meeting was cancelled. On Oct. 27 Brad Will, an American activist and journalist, was killed by paramilitaries while documenting the protests.
Will was killed when shots were fired directly at the protestors. The New York Times reported that out of the five suspects in custody for the murder, two are local officials and two are police officers.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Mary Martialay
posted 11/22/06 @ 9:27 PM EST
Hi - I just popped in to check on my alma mater (UVM '94) and would like to say that, if this article was written by a UVM student, I am impressed. I am a professional newspaper reporter, and found this article to be crisply writen, to the point, and free of editorial slant. (Continued…)
Mary Martialay
posted 11/22/06 @ 9:39 PM EST
Ah - Found a mention in the Features section, and glad to have done so. I still think it's a good article, but the companion piece in Features still doesn't exonerate the author from the responsibility of including a short 'graph summing the status of the study abroad program. (Continued…)
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