Mexico’s Parallel Reality
Federal riot police in Oaxaca, Mexico, have ended their weeks-long occupation of the Oaxaca city center. The city of Oaxaca is favored by off-the-beaten path tourists and expats, and is surrounded by areas of extreme poverty. Needless to say, tourism has suffered recently.
The protest began as a teacher’s wage strike and grew into an anti-capitalist uprising that attempted to unseat state Gov. Ulises Ruiz, whom protestors accuse of thuggery, corruption and stealing an election. Protestors took over the center of Oaxaca for five months, and it took thousands of federal police to drive them out in November.
At the height of the protests, violent clashes erupted between activists and police, and nine protestors were shot. Hundred were arrested, and human right groups say that some have been tortured. Activists blame local police for many, if not all, of the fatal shootings. Most recently, federal police raided the offices of the Oaxaca state police and seized their guns to determine if any were used in the shootings.
Oaxaca is just one of the problems for President Felipe Calderon. Since taking office December 1, Calderon has taken a tough stand on Mexico’s security issues, sending thousands of troops to his home state of Michoacan, where a turf war between drug cartels has led to violence. Now federal police leaving Oaxaca will beef-up the offensive in Michoacan.
Calderon won the election by small margin, or, some say, by a fraudulent counting of votes. His opponent, Andrés Manuel López Obrador refuses to recognize Calderon. Not only that, he has established his own parallel legitimate government with offices, a cabinet, and representatives in each region. His office is in his former campaign headquarters where his staff members answer the phone, “office of the legitimate President.”