Mercury Rising

The main action continues to be in Oaxaca. Basically, there's a cynical game of spinning out the rest on November, after which the governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz will abdicate in favor of some crony. That will allow PRI to hold the governorship until the end of URO's ...um...elected term. The governor promises a cabinet shake-up. The APPO protestors say this will not satisfice. For once, PAN and PRD apparently agree. René Trujillo, Horacio Marmolejo and Benito Pereda Fernández have testified that theu were kidnapped and, over the course of a 46 hour ordeal, tortured by the AFI to extract information related to APPO personalities Flavio Sosa, Dr. Bertha Muñoz and-- interestingly-- three minors. Flashpoints has an interview with John Gibler. He says that the marches are huge, above 100,000, that there has been "low intensity psychological terror, gunmen shooting at barricades" and "cases of disappearances." He says that the three men kidnapped were pistol-whipped, hooded, and tortured for 9 hours. See also this piece by Gibler Laura Carlson has a good piece in FPIF: Oaxaca's rebellion also has roots in the battles of the indigenous communities for autonomy and, since the 1970s, for the restoration of communitarian forms of self-government, collective work, and identity. Added to the mix has been the anger of a new generation of high school and university students sick of getting short shrift from governments impoverished by structural adjustment and corruption. And as a final ingredient in a recipe for rebellion, citizens sensitized to the injustice expressed in daily life rose up against a disputed gubernatorial election that seemed to doom their society to more of the same or worse. Nancy Davies of NarcoNews says that PRI is jamming radio stations, that the university station has been deliberately damaged by gunfire to reduce its broadcast range, but that there has been a compensating explosion of media coverage that corrects false impressions created by corporate media. Laura Carlson has a good piece in FPIF: Oaxaca's rebellion also has roots in the battles of the indigenous communities for autonomy and, since the 1970s, for the restoration of communitarian forms of self-government, collective work, and identity. Added to the mix has been the anger of a new generation of high school and university students sick of getting short shrift from governments impoverished by structural adjustment and corruption. And as a final ingredient in a recipe for rebellion, citizens sensitized to the injustice expressed in daily life rose up against a disputed gubernatorial election that seemed to doom their society to more of the same or worse. Proceso also has an article that explains APPO's broad base. Joel Ortega, the head of DF security claimed that the vicious 2004 murder of two federal police officers was committed by a guerrilla group called EPR in Tlahuac. This would be more impressive if they were naming suspects or otherwise doing something specific. The EPR is suspected of recent bombings for which five other groups have claimed responsibility. One interesting tidbit: the EPR was formed in response to a government massacre of peasants in Guerrero. One of our commenters, Manuel, wanted to bring to my attention the possibility that freelance photographer Brad Will might have been more than a journalist like, say, a guerrilla. In support of that, he provided the following photo. I have no idea where the photo is from nor what it really shows. I'm not even positive that it shows Brad Will, since all the photos of Brad Will I have seen show him with a beard; photos from the shooting don't show his face clearly so he could have shaved. But I am certainly willing to discuss it. Added: The photo below is of Brad Will being borne away from the site of his shooting. My position is that as long as Brad Will's attackers were not acting as law enforcement officials and as long as he wasn't carrying a weapon, he was murdered, plain and simple. If the government has contrary information, it would be nice if it laid out any allegations that it might have, clearly and openly.