Update from Oaxaca
by Jonathan
Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006 at 11:52 AM
jonathan@resist.ca
Articles in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada (link:http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/10/29/005n1pol.php) today revealed that there are 3,500 Federal Preventative Police and 300 military police currently situated in the outskirts of Oaxaca City. And as of 30 minutes ago, La Jornada reported that police were clashing with APPO members, trying to push the protestors out of their barricades (link http://www.jornada.unam.mx:8080/ultimas/inicia-pfp-levantamiento-de-barricadas). There are also around 5,000 soldiers in the areas around the city, operating under a counterinsurgency plan called SN-II. The deployment of soldiers started as early as March, and was done in small increments to avoid detection.
There is a march planned for today, starting at 2:00 pm, which will end in Oaxaca's city square. It is rumored that the violence will be incited by agent provocateurs at the march, and will be used as a pretext to send in the Federal Preventative Police en masse. There have also been numerous flyovers by state helicopters today, especially over Radio Universidad, the only station still in possession of the APPO. It is possible that the radio will be an early target of the state when they start their operation in full, in an effort to cut one of the most important communication systems the APPO has available to them.
For more information on what's currently going on in Oaxaca, check out infoshop.org's coverage.
