One Year Anniverary

speaker It has been one year since Bradley Will was murdered; and one year since the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) took over the zócalo, marking the beginning of a month of violent confrontations between the PFP and APPO. Over the past few days, APPO has marched to remember their fallen comrades, demand the release of those remaining in prison, and the right for teachers of Section 22 to teach their classes. As Florentino López Martínez, a frequent APPO speaker spoke at the rally today, he claimed that this movement witnessed 27 murders, many disappearances, and 200 political prisoners remain in jail.

As the march entered the zócalo, no police were present (a stark change from just a few months ago). Along the route of the march and into the zócalo, teenagers with masks spray painted buildings and businesses. All of the stores remained open and the employees watched their building being spraypainted for the umpteenth time. In the zócalo, photographers and tourists try to take photos of the graffiti artists, which normally is alright as long as the photograph is from behind and without the person’s face. However, I witnessed the youth pressure two photographers into erasing their footage. The teachers separated into their respective schools and formed discussion groups. Vendors were ready for the march—they laid out DVD’s, APPO t-shirts, and artwork. Traditional zócalo vendors patrolled the area selling shaved ice, nuts, and artesian crafts. The DVD’s are worth examining because it is common to find documentaries retelling events from the last year. After about a half hour, a rally started at the gazebo. I found some of the COMO (Coordinadora de Mujeres Oaxaquenos, Primero de Agosto, APPO) women who have made a central position for themselves in APPO. Florentino López Martínez, a frequent APPO speaker, started off the rally by listing the reasons for their continued struggle.

tourists at rally The rallies of the past few months have the same signature posters, graffiti, and demands, but the city reacts differently to them. Stores remain open and police do not set up barricades. Interestingly, as I left the zocalo, a large group of tourists on a tour of the zócalo stood in front of the cathedral listening to their guide. I snapped a photo because the image of a tour group in the middle of a rally was way too tempting.

I often run across articles discussing the economic problems facing Oaxaca since last year. While these primarily focus on the impact of tourism on hotels and businesses in the centro, the economic impact is much wider. Many countries, including the United States maintain a warning to tourists on travel to Oaxaca. The U.S. warning won’t expire until April 2008. The demands of APPO have not been met, and therefore, actions continue. However, it is unclear how their demands will ever be met—it is obvious that Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz will never step down until the end of his term and the situation with political prisoners is a waiting game.

The only way to really examine the events of the past year is to try to take in the complexities of the situation—the good and the bad of the movement. It is an oversimplification to just examine the ideals of the movement because the reality is far more complicated. In a peaceful movement we saw violence. In a populous movement we saw poor people turn away despite hating the government and believing in the goals of the movement. But for now, dealing with those issues will have to wait for a later blog post.

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