MEXICO: Teachers insist strike will continue until Ortiz resignation

One day after violence erupted in Oaxaca, members of the APPO, the teacher's union asking for Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz's resignation, stated that their strike would continue until he leaves office. "We declare that the fight of the people of Oaxaca for the ousting of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz continues," said union leader Florentino Lopez Martinez. As proof of just how toxic the situation has become, APPO members violently beat a man they suspected of being a government spy after the news conference. The city, normally popular with European backpackers, has been in chaos for the last six months because of protests by striking teachers, Indian groups and leftists against the governor, who they say is corrupt and authoritarian. The melee started on Saturday when protesters shot fireworks at riot police and burned down government buildings in this colonial city, days before President-elect Felipe Calderon was to take office. The charred remains of government buildings scorched and gutted by fire were the only visible reminder of Saturday's violence. The situation in Oaxaca, one of Mexico's poorest states, will be just one of conservative President-elect Felipe Calderon's most pressing problems when he takes power on Dec. 1. In October, federal authorities forced their way into the city to try to end the conflict that has killed more than a dozen people. Activists had chased cops from city streets, set up hundreds of barricades and taken over government offices. Ruiz has ignored calls from congress and politicians in his own party for him to quit to put and end to the conflict. A month ago, angry protesters drove hundreds of riot police backed by water cannon trucks out of a university neighbourhood and activists on Sunday said they remained determined.

ITN Source | November 27, 2006

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