Minute-to-minute update 10/31 from CLM Oaxaca : AZ IMC

31 de octubre: Paramilitares y policía federal en Oaxaca operan toque de queda de facto | Hay retenes militares en todo Oaxaca
October 31st: Paramilitaries and Federal Police are operating a de facto curfew – there are military checkpoints throughout Oaxaca

10:06 There are reports that on the Boulevard where Estadio Venustiano Carranza is located the PFP have entered the house where the finances of the APPO are managed.

10:03 the PFP continues to advance on Santo Domingo and on Radio Universidad, and we are calling on the people to join us in defending these two bastions.

9:45 two reports informus of 60 or 70 people detained at the APPO encampment in Santo Domingo plaza where the people of Oaxaca are resisting.

9:29 Radio Universidad is calling for defense of the barricades, because the PFP is trying to enter the University and is trying to remove the barricades.

8:05 there are reports that the mobilizations are continuing in Mesico City. A march has been blocked at Chivatito by the presence of police from the GDF

7:08 At the offering made in the Cal y Canto neighborhood, the people renamed the barricade there “barricada Brad Will”

6:53 There are two versions of the detentions at “Love Park” 1) that they will be taken to Miahuatlán; 2) that they’ll be taken to La Palma (currently, at this prison there are even three compañeros being held from the FPDT (Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land): Felipe Alvarez, Ignacio Del Valle Medina and Hector Galindo Cochicoa – all from Atenco, imprisoned because of the police attack of May 3rd and 4th; Antonio and Hector Cerezo are also being held at this prison. The dirty war against social strugglers continues).

5:17 the General Assembly of Organizations are inviting the formation of a great caravan to Oaxaca, and if AMLO (Lopez Obredor) decides to go he will not lead the march – he will just be one more person.

4:58 the PFP are encircling Santo Domingo in Oaxaca, where the APPO have made their encampment.

4:51 at 5pm a caravan of 3,000 teachers will leave Michoacán bound for Mexico City. They will then head for Oaxaca. The teachers have said no to classes. There is confirmation of reported aggressions being made against the caravan.

4:40 Vendors in the Zócalo are placing responsibility on the PFP for the removal of 37 businesses. They say that things are worse now because they cannot even open their businesses

4:36 The teachers refuse to recognize the agreements made with the government. There will not be negotiation until the political prisoners are released and until the appearance of the disappeared along with the head of URO (Ulises Ruiz)

3:31 the political prisoners of the APPO who were liberated yesterday are calling for people to form caravans and come to Oaxaca. People can come through Guerrero, Chiapas or through the highway.

2:32 The APPO is calling for the people and the press to attend the offering in memory of the dead that they are going to make in the Cal y Canto neighborhood. They are asking that this information be distributed through indymedia. In memory of Brad they are asking that photographs of the offering be sent to his family. They will make a memorial with the silhouette of this compañero.

2:31 the PFP are searching everyone who enters the Zócalo, looking through bags and asking for identification, violating peoples right to free transit. If you don’t carry identification you will be detained. All of the business owners are saying that things are worse now that the PFP are there.

1:52 The professor Oliverio Navarrete is giving his testimony about the aggression he suffered this morning at the hand of government forces. He says that he was rescued only thanks to the help of people who saw what was happening and acted in solidarity.

1:47 At Símbolos Patrios in Oaxaca City, they are removing the burned buses that were being used as a barricade.

1:29 The murdered medic will be returned to the earth today in Soledad de Etla, Oaxaca.

1:07 The offices of the Mexican League in Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDH) are being harassed – graffiti has been painted saying “here is where the APPO meet”.

1:05 There is an urgent call to celebrate the Day of the Dead tomorrow in the plaza de Santo Domingo. They are asking for people to bring colorful flowers and paint of many colors. They also want people to send letters to the radio so that they can be read over the airwaves. They want help from plastic artists, in order to create memorials for the compañeros who have falled in the struggle. They are also asking people to make offerings everywhere somebody from the movement has been murdered.

1:00 the PFP are detaining people in the Zócalo, without an order to apprehend them.

12:32 the PRI-istas have entered the Zócalo. The PFP have allowed them through. The PRI-istas are threatening everyone who passes by – saying that if they cause problems they will have them arrested, and to women that they are going to violate them.

12:24 There are reports on Radio Universidad that the PFP are acting inappropriately toward women who pass through the streets that are occupied by the police.

12:11 The detained who remain at the Miahuatlán prison are being taken to Mexico City. We don’t know if the National Human Rights Comission has been allowed to accompany the detained, especially those who are not on the official list – nor do they know the total number of detained although some are saying at Miahuatlán there are more than 300 detained.

12:09 The march is headed by Dr. Pérez Bautista. Employees of the Secretary of Health were forced to attend the march, or else lose their jobs. There are similar reports from the Specialty Hospital. At least two-blocks worth of the march are people who were forced to attend, and another large part of the march are paramilitaries. They are moving forward under the protection of the PFP.

12:08 In “Love Park” there is a PFP helicopter, and a roadblock where traffic is being stopped and they are arresting various people.

12:07 at the exit to Tlacolula the PFP have a roadblock, and are turning away groups in solidarity with the APPO who are trying to reach the downtown of Oaxaca City.

11:54 There are reports that the PRI-istas are attacking the encampment of the APPO in Santo Domingo.

11:51 the PRI-ista march, which includes members of paramilitary groups, is marching guarded on both sides by the PFP. As they move forward they are removing barricades and have detained several people. There is fear that they will attack the encampment of the APPO at Santo Domingo, and also Radio Universidad. They are calling this march “the March for Peace”.

11:48 Right now there are two protests of solidarity with Oaxaca happening in Brazil.

11:38 At the intersection of Vigueras the PFP has attacked people to try to remove them from a trench – among these people is a videographer.

11:37 At the intersection of Candiani in Oaxaca City, they are removing barricades.

11:35 There are reports from the School of Social and Political Sciences of UNAM in Mexico City, that a vote has passed to strike for the day in solidarity with the people of Oaxaca. Also, there will be performances, speeches and a march through the University. Also there are solidarity strikes at the following schools of UNAM: the College of Sciences and the Humanities of the South, Preparatoria 6, CCH Naucalpan, and there are roadblocks in solidarity outside the National School for Professionals in Aragón.

11:20 It’s being reported that in Fraccionamiento Bugambilias de Oaxaca the PFP is going house to house, detaining people and taking them away.

11:05 At Loma de los Coyotes in Oaxaca City the barricade is being attacked.

11:03 There are reports that a contingent from the PRI-ista march in Oaxaca has advanced to the Zócalo, and in the front are violent groups. They are groups of provocateurs who plan to attack.

11:02 In Cinco Señores the CNDH had signaled that there would be a human rights office, but it is not there.

11:01 Between Yalitlán and Nochiztlán Jorge Pedro Osorio and Sergio Ramírez have been detained by the PFP

10:49 Tomorrow a delegation of the Senate Human Rights Commission will arrive to review the violations of human rights committed by the government of the state of Oaxaca.

10:48 in Cinco Señores the PFP are meeting with functionaries with the Oaxaca state government.

10:45 A declaration from the Benito Juarez Autonomous University of Oaxaca has called for dialogue and negotiation, condemning the use of violence and loss of life, and denouncing any intent of incursion by police on the campus of the University, which would violate its autonomy.

10:43 The PFP have removed 37 local vendors from the Zócalo. These same vendors have not been touched during the last few months by the APPO, nor by the teachers or other protester. They’ve maintained their services to the public. The PFP, on the other hand, have destroyed everything, and have stolen food and other items. An occupation army, engaging on operations of destruction and theft.

10:39 at the Fuente de las Siete Regiones, the PRI-istas are preparing to go evict the APPO from their encampment at Santo Domingo. They are carrying sticks and bottles with chile water.

10:36 There are multiple reports that the government is forcing its functionaries to attend the march of support for the governor, and paying some other people to attend. In particular there are reports that functionaries of the Judicial system and of DIF (Desarrollo Integral para la Familia – a social service agency) are being forced to attend.

10:34 Ulises Ruiz will be at Zimatlán at 1:00 pm. Military checkpoints remain throughout the state, impeding the arrival to Oaxaca City of solidarity caravans from throughout the state of Oaxaca and from other parts of the country.

10:30 In Calicanto in Oaxaca City people are overturning cars. It seems they are trying to take the barricade.

10:24 Professor Oliverio Navarrete was not detained – rather, he was assaulted by judicial police, who stole his cell phone and then allowed him to pass. Was their objective to capture the telephone numbers of the professor, who is the father of the hunger strikers who continue in Mexico City? Or was it common thievery?

10:19 At Símbolos Patrios Professor Oliverio Navarrete has been detained.

10:10 In the zone of the Prorcuraduría de Justicia de Oaxaca, there are judicial police checkpoints, and they are robbing people who pass by. Radio Universidad is announcing “Judicial is Synonymous with Thief, one can only be judicial through intimidation”.

10:01 Today’s edition of the newspaper “Noticias de Oaxaca” reports that there are blockades on all of the highways of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with the demand that the PFP and military leave. They also report that there are caravans of support for the APPO that have left various parts for the city of Oaxaca, but they’ve been prevented from arriving by the army at checkpoints encircling Tlaxiaco and Tlacolula. In this way the constitutional right of free transit is being violated, because there is no regional constitutional exception being implemented.

9:58 The groundwork is still being laid for a plenary of the APPO – however there are paramilitaries posted near the forum where it will be held.

9:56 The telephone lines of Radio Universidad are being systematically blocked. This is a violation of the law, for the companies to suspend service without any justification. It is also against the law for the federal government to block telephone communication without a court order. However, ever since the attack on SICARTSA and the massacre in Atenco we have seen very little respect for legality on behalf of federal functionaries.

9:55 In the La Joya neighborhood a barricade has fallen into the hands of the PFP.

9:49 They’ve announced that the PRI-istas will march along a route toward Radio Universidad, with the aim of provoking the PFP to assault the Radio.

9:44 the APPO is asking people through Radio Universidad not to respond or fall in any manner for the provocations during the PRI-ista march that is taking place in the next couple of hours in Oaxaca City. They are also asking that people allow the march to pass and to take video documentation of what takes place, in order to show any possible aggressions.

9:35 There are reports that Daniel Gilardo Mota Figueroa, a journalist with the daily paper “La Opinión” (affiliated with the PRI), was detained by federal forces at about 4pm near the airport (it is not clear if it was the PFP, the AFI or another agency that is maintaining the occupation of Oaxaca).

9:28 At the School of Social and Political Sciences at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City there has been declared a student strike in solidarity with Oaxaca, and against the incursion of the PFP.

9:20 There are reports of a PRI-ista march, extreme right-wing, that will depart at 11am in the city of Oaxaca. The paramilitary groups are affiliated with these groups – these are the people who have supported state terrorism throughout the struggle, and during the last few days have supported the government’s assault on the civil population.

8:00 Last night was a de facto curfew, as the people resisted at the barricades against a supposed paramilitary and PFP assault. Radio Universidad continues to transmit.

2:26 am Radio Universidad continues to transmit in Oaxaca (we hope very soon to be able to transmit online)

This Morning there are two dirty games being played against the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca.

On the one hand, the Federal Preventative Police (PFP) have been advancing all day toward Radio Universidad. They advance several meters and then stop. When the police stop, the paramilitaries make threats about assaulting the radio. Then the police advance a few meters further toward the radio, threatening to attack it themselves, they stop and the paramilitaries continue. The objective is double – first, undoubtedly, they wish to attack the radio station – last night they cut the electricity with the objective of blocking the transmission. A few weeks ago someone threw acid all over the equipment to immobilize it. The second objective is, perhaps, to provoke a fight between the PFP and the paramilitaries in order to have a pretext to accuse the APPo of aggression against the PFP so that they can move forward using maximum repression against the APPO and destroy the radio. On this night full of anxiety and