The Sounds of Conflict Return to the Streets

The silence is deafening. Since I arrived at my dad’s house last night after a long day of traveling back to the States for the first time in almost a year, all I have noticed is how silent it is here. The occasional sound of a car passing by or a few bird songs are the only things that accompany the echo of the refrigerator turning on and off. My ears are filled with the sound of nothing. Of stillness and tranquility. At least they were until I made a call to a friend in Oaxaca this afternoon.

I dialed the number and after a few rings he picked up the phone and immediately I could hear the sounds of helicopters and street noise in the background. The first thing he told me was that the conflict had begun again. “There are buses burning in the streets. They thought they were going to take the Auditorio Nacional (National Auditorium),” he shouted, “the APPO has also blocked the Periférico and there have been confrontations, lots of people are hurt.” When I asked him which police forces were there, he responded that it was the AFI (like the FBI) and the Federal Preventative Police (PFP). My heart began to race and the silence was immediately replaced with memories of the sounds of last fall in Oaxaca: strange explosions, gunshots, helicopters, people marching in the streets, the sounds of a city deep in the midst of a conflict no one ever imagined would reach such gravity.

(A popular movement supporter and bystanders are attacked with teargas by police officials on July 16, 2007. Photo courtesy of Eduardo Garza Crespo.)

Over the past several weeks since the anniversary of the violent repression on June 14th, 2006, the teachers and the APPO have been very active in their mobilizations but on the surface the climate of the city had not seemed to have changed significantly. A small encampment was established once again by the Section 22 teachers and the APPO in the zocalo and posters began to appear asking residents and tourists alike to boycott the upcoming official Guelaguetza (an annual cultural festival in Oaxaca; also the event with the largest attraction and source of income from tourists). Just over a week ago or so, however, tensions began to rise between local business owners and encampment participants and reports of threats to evacuate the zocalo came out in the papers. Then just last week it was reported that the teachers had struck a deal with federal government officials to remove their encampment in exchange for the completion of some of their demands.

This past weekend and today, the 14th, 15th & 16th, the popular Guelaguetza was to be held. As part of these events, a march was planned from the zocalo to the National Auditorium to hold the final ceremonies. Newspapers report that upon marching toward the site, the demonstration was met with heavy police enforcement and a confrontation began in which tear gas was released into the crowd, at least 40 civilians and 20 police officials were injured and several people were detained.  Reports from civil society organizations state that during the confrontation, police brutally beat teachers, movement sympathizers and several reporters. They also state that despite official declarations by the state government that the demonstration would be respected, the operation (which included elites from the Mexican army, PFP, AFI, state preventative and municipal police) owes its coordination to the state Secretary for Citizen Protection.

(Scenes of buses burned by protesters and Federal Preventative Police who supported an operation against them on July 16, 2007. Photos courtesy of Eduardo Garza Crespo.)

Now as I try to sort out my confusion and fear over what must be taking place right now in Oaxaca, I find myself sitting here in a place of incredible peacefulness and safety, a place that seems so far away from the reality I have found myself in over the past ten months. I don’t feel lucky or glad that I’m not there but I do wonder if and when Oaxaca will ever know this type of peace and safety again, if it ever did. Nothing has changed since the conflict started, nor are there any real signs that it will. Until the root causes of the conflict are addressed, there will only be temporary spells of calmness in the state and it will just be a matter of time before they are piercingly shattered once again.

Sources: La Jornada, Accion Urgente del Espacio de Organizaciones Civiles de Oaxaca, 16 de julio, 2007