Oaxaca calm gives Mexico's Calderon breathing room
Source: Reuters
By Noel Randewich OAXACA, Mexico, Dec 4 (Reuters) - A heavy police presence in Mexico's troubled tourist city of Oaxaca has knocked the wind out of protests to oust a state governor, giving President Felipe Calderon room to breathe in his first days in office. Violent clashes between federal police and protesting teachers, Indian groups and others demanding the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz were a looming crisis for Calderon, who took power on Friday amid fist fights between lawmakers and protests from leftists who say he stole the July presidential election. But police have apparently gained the upper hand in Oaxaca, bulldozing barricades that had virtually shut down the city during six months of often bloody protests. Protesters now avoid the central plaza, guarded day and night by hundreds of police with shields and tear gas guns. And truckloads of police carrying assault rifles regularly patrol the city arresting suspected activists. More than 150 have been jailed. "We're not free right now. We live under threat of the governor. They have their riot trucks ready," said protester Elizabeth Escania, an unemployed archeologist. City hall has reopened, taking building permit applications and receiving taxes after months of interruptions. Even Ruiz has been walking the streets, recently giving away hundreds of pairs of prescription eyeglasses and unveiling a social assistance program in one of Oaxaca's poorest neighborhoods. "It's calmer now. A lot of people are going shopping, it's almost back to normal," municipal government worker Virgilio Ponce said in Oaxaca city this weekend. "Little by little, they are disappearing," he said of the protesters. The lull has made life easier for the conservative Calderon, whose transition team had feared trying to control violence in Oaxaca would be his biggest challenge. He already faces open hostility from left-wing lawmakers in Congress and the threat of new protests led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the man he narrowly beat at the polls, as well as an escalating drug war that has killed around 3,000 people in the last two years. POTENTIAL TROUBLE AHEAD? Despite police gains in Oaxaca, the city is still tense. With Ruiz in power, some fear protests will flare again when federal police withdraw. The clampdown has also raised allegations of torture and illegal arrests. Oaxaca had been in chaos for six months because of protests by striking teachers, Indian groups and leftists who accused Ruiz of being corrupt and authoritarian. About 15 people were killed, most of them protesters. In October, federal riot police barged into the city. In a series of clashes, rioters burned down buildings in the colonial city popular with foreign tourists and shot fireworks at police who responded with tear gas and water cannon. "I feel we are almost on the edge of a civil war," Francisco Toledo, a Oaxaca-based painter and left-wing activist who is considered Mexico's most important living artist, told La Jornada newspaper. While the center of Oaxaca is wealthy, people living in the outskirts and surrounding farmland are extremely poor. Critics doubt Calderon, a fiscal conservative, will bridge the gap. "Democracy in Oaxaca and Mexico reflect the economy. It was the rich who elected Calderon, not the poor," said Bulmaro Lopez, a 70-year-old teacher. Even as protests ease, it could be some time before tourists venture back to Oaxaca en masse. "It's disconcerting to see all the police with their weapons, said Richard Rihm, a judge from Wisconsin who decided to cut short his vacation to the city. "Oaxaca is a treasure, but it looks terrible."
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
