Searching for the Oaxacan Governor in NYC

Village Voice ^ | August 20, 2007 | Sarah Ferguson

[3AngelaD]

On Saturday, about 100 jeering demonstrators gathered outside the Mexican consulate in hopes of confronting the much-reviled governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz. If only they could find him.

Last summer, Ruiz was the object of the protests that transformed Oaxaca into an urban war zone after protesters barricaded streets and took over radio stations to try and force him from power. Many accuse Ruiz of launching a violent campaign to repress the uprising...

So when the Mexican media reported that Ruiz would be part of a delegation of Mexican governors visiting New York and several other cities to address immigration reform, activists began mobilizing. “We have a murderer among us!” someone shouted outside the Mexican consulate...Protesters also blanketed the fence with placards and signs denouncing Ruiz as a killer.

A few tomatoes were lobbed...But aside from the security guards, the place seemed empty. Then someone spotted the Mexican delegation dining up the block at Salute, an upscale Italian restaurant...

Could that guy with the black mustache and open-collar shirt sitting at a table of well-dressed Mexican officials really be Ruiz? The protesters peering through the restaurant’s plate glass windows weren’t sure. He looked thinner than the cartoon mug shots of Ruiz plastered all over Oaxaca and the Net, and he wasn’t wearing specs like Ruiz usually does....

Activists plastered the front windows with flyers denouncing Ruiz as a “terrorist” along with big placards demanding that he resign.

"Ruiz is the Pinochet of Oaxaca," said Victor Toro, a Chilean exile who braved the protest even though he's now facing deportation charges after 24 years in the U.S. "We feel Ruiz has no right to talk about immigration when his policies of violence and economic hardships have made it impossible for people to live in Oaxaca."

[3AngelaD]

Mexican leftists active in NYC, too. I am sure there are many possible deportees in this crowd. Where is ICE? Victor Toro ought to be elsewhere. Toro is a left-wing Chilean who has become a leading figure defending immigrants and the homeless in New York City. He was arrested in July and is out on bail {why?} but is still facing a deportation order. The sooner the better. Ruiz should have come down even harder than he did.

[freekitty]

Deport them.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"Ruiz is the Pinochet of Oaxaca,"

I like him already.