Rumors are circulating that as much as 50% (or perhaps more now) of reservations for the commercial Guelaguetza and tourist amenities like hotels have been cancelled. Attacking an unarmed and peaceful march exactly one week before the biggest week for the state’s economy, in front of BBC and other international news cameras was a blunder.

Amnesty International issued a call to action this morning. Will it do any good? Will the presence of another set of human rights observers change anything? The CCIODH (Mexican human rights organization) reports did virtually nothing. Will the national human rights commission’s investigations change anything? Last time they held APPO just as responsible as Ulises.

The protestors were unarmed. Seems like the police could have just guarded the entrances to the tunnels leading into the auditorium like they did the zocalo…standing at attention with shields would have disallowed anyone from entering. It was the teargas cannisters that wounded many and killed at least one. And why arrest and beat up the people? Protesting is supposed to be legal here. But the protestors had to know they were pushing the envelope on this one. No one is surprised at what happened.

The clash was limited to the area around Fortin Hill. Meanwhile the city went about it’s business as usual.

Saturday night I got a ticket for parking in the wrong place in the Centro, so a bilingual friend in my apartment house generously accompanied me this morning to Santa Rosa on the outskirts of the city to pay my $15 fine and get my “placas” back. When you get a ticket in Oaxaca they take your license plate from the back of your car which forces you to pay your fine. There were no “no parking” signs or indicators. And none of the other cars, front and back, were issued a ticket. Hmmmm.

So I missed the Popular Guelaguetza that was held this morning in the Plaza de la Danza. Then about 10,000 protestors marched to the auditorium on Fortin Hill. Police, deployed in the area since Saturday, forced the protestors back when they tried to enter the auditorium and a bitter clash followed with teargas. A government employee told a friend in my apartment house that they were told that the protestors wanted to occupy the auditorium in anticipation of stopping the commercial Guelaguetza planned for the next two mondays.
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Last year, the resistance “movement” (principally the APPO) that c0-0pted the annual teacher strike, boycotted the government-sponsored Guelaguetza, a traditional indigenous dance exposition that has been held at a specially built auditorium on the Fortin Hill… I think for only three years previous. The movement felt that the people, who performed for free as part of their contribution to their communities, were being exploited by the $40 entrance fee that the typical Oaxaqeno cannot afford. So an alternative “Popular Guelaguetza” was performed at a site on the outskirts of the city last year…free to all attendants.

This year, the commercial event is being boycotted again. No one is sure if it will take place the last two mondays of July as usual. Someone recently said they heard that hardly any tickets had been sold. Such is the difficulty of getting current information that seems to change moment to moment in Oaxaca these days.

Meanwhile, the APPO and the teachers had kicked off a “symbolic” strike this year on June 14, the first anniversay of the police attack on the teachers in the zocalo. Teachers have been maintaining a presence, rotating in and out of the zocalo, but are not sleeping and cooking there. Barricades have been set up around the city, often changing locations, to remind the government that the resistance is still alive.

Talks with the government have been held off and on…the average person not really sure of outcomes…and some people feel there are probably hidden “deals” that have been taking place.

There has been no police presence (except for plain-clothed police) in the zocalo but recently heavily armed police have been showing up in nearby areas as planning for the Popular Guelaguetza continues for this morning, June 16. At first we heard it would take place at a site near the city. Then we heard it will take place at the auditorium on Fortin Hill. Then we heard it will take place in the Plaza de la Danza.
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Pedro Matias, a journalist with 20 yrs of experience watching governmental abuses here in Oaxaca said recently that every hundred years Mexico seems to explode in revolution: in 1810 with Independence, 1910 with the Revolution, and people are now wondering what is in store for 2010.

By Nancy Davies:

Saturday Noticias printed an article saying an attack in the Zocalo was “suspended.” Two organizations are involved: Consejo Ciudadano para el Progresso, which was quoted as saying, “the peaceful expulsion planned for this Saturday was cancelled at the request of the governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz ‘to maintain the peace’.” The other group, Organización Independiente de Comerciantes Establecidos (OICE) has thus far not announced their agreement with the CCP.
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