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Oaxaca At Any Cost-Article from CounterPunch.org

Barricades removed by the Federal Preventive Police, during their invasion and occupation of Oaxaca City since Nov 1, may be reconstructed throughout the city as early as tonight.

“If hostility continues, if detentions and disappearances continue, we will put up more barricades…if Ulises doesn’t leave, we will put the barricades back up.” said Alejandro Benitez, a student of the university that houses the last remaining APPO radio station in the city.

In an attempt to satisfy negotiations with the APPO to take down the remaining barricades, the government has released a few dozen political prisoners in small groups each day, but as some prisoners are released more people become detained or become disappeared. The approximate number of detained so far is 85, and about 34 people are considered to be disappeared. Indeed, everyday numerous acts of aggression take place against APPO members, their families, and supporters.

Yesterday, as a 5.1 earthquake shook the city, more students disappeared and received threats, prompting the occupied university to declare a red alert. Four APPO leaders with warrants on their names sought asylum in the Catholic Church for the night. Many members of APPO´s 350 integrated organizations have abandoned their homes and offices because of threats and violence from PRI party members or supporters.

“We are on the run,” said Claudia, a member of CODEP, yesterday. “They have entered our houses, or they have threatened us, so we are not sleeping or working there. We won’t just go to jail, the PRIistas will disappear us, they will kill us.”

Under so much repression, the APPO is meeting today to draw a plan of action. And on the other side, with the governablity of Oaxaca in question, governor Ulises, under pressure from all sides including the Mexican Congress, has accused his enemies in the federal government of “being afraid to apply the law.”

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