Gunmen kill leader of Mexican leftist party in Oaxaca

OAXACA, Mexico — Gunmen shot dead a local leader of Mexico's largest leftist party in the southern state of Oaxaca where at least nine people were killed in political violence last year, police said today.

Democratic Revolution Party official Fructuoso Pedro Garcia was shot with nine bullets in the main square of Santo Domingo Morelos, a seaside town about 150 miles south of Oaxaca's colonial state capital, said state police commander Alberto Guzman.

The killing occurred last Wednesday, three days after Garcia announced he would run for mayor of Santo Domingo Morelos.

Guzman said the killing appeared to be for personal rather than political motives but would not give more details.

However, Raymundo Carmona president of Democratic Revolution's party council in Oaxaca said it had all the signs of a political killing, although he did not point the figure at any party.

The poor mountainous state of Oaxaca is governed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, which ruled Mexico for most of the twentieth century.

Last year Democratic Revolution members joined thousands of leftist protesters who took over Oaxaca's state capital for five months to try and oust PRI Gov. Ulises Ruiz, who they accused of rigging the 2004 election to win office and sending gun toting thugs against his enemies. Ruiz denies the charges.

Armed gangs and police fought protesters, leaving nine people dead including New York journalist-activist Bradley Roland Will.

Thousands of federal police finally pushed the protesters out of the city in October and November.

While there's been little evident progress in resolving that dispute or solving the slayings, the relative calm in the top tourist destination prompted the U.S. State Department to downgrade a travel advisory for Oaxaca, saying Americans should use caution in the region instead of avoiding it altogether.

Thank you for the ping Alia.

Anytime you want to get the inside scoop on Oaxaca, the place to go is the Mark in Mexico blog.

This is what they have up, a post evidently authored by a Susan Waxley, which is the first time I've ever seen anyone other than Mark himself do the writing.

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Monday, January 22, 2007

Oaxaca, Mexico: Bullets instead of ballots still the rule in Oaxaca

Two opposition political leaders have been assassinated in the past five days in Oaxaca state.

On Thursday past, indigenous leader Roberto García was gunned down in San Juan Copala. García had just announced that his indigenous group would declare the town an "autonomous" zone.

In Mexico there are about 500 villages and towns ruled by "usos y costumbres". The federal government permits these indigenous areas to be governed by the people according to traditional indigenous customs, usually by a committee of tribal elders. It is somewhat like the Indian Reservation governments in the United States or First Nations reserves governments in Canada.

But not in San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, Mexico.

The previous day, in Santo Domingo de Morelos, Pochutla, Oaxaca, Fructuoso Pedro García, was gunned down right in front of his wife. He had the day before announced his candidacy for municipal president. He was a member of the PRD.

This news broke several days after the murder because, as allege his family members and political allies, Oaxaca Attorney General Lizbeth Caña sealed the area and released no information to the press, "to avoid the political implications and allow the murderers to escape."

García's family is preparing to come to this, the capitol city, along with a contingent of townspeople to demand Caña's resignation and that the assassins be found and brought to justice.

He was shot nine times in the back by two subjects who escaped. Also wounded in the attack was a 15 year-old girl who happened to be passing by. Her leg is shattered and docors say they will probably have to remove it.

The state PRD accused the current Municipal President, of San Domingo de Morelos, Pochutla, Roberto José Cortez, of ordering the murder.

"The Municipal President knew that Mr. Fructuoso would win the elction and that would be a danger to them (the PRI) because there have been a lot of problems with the municipal government. This must be the first line of investigation," said Raymundo Carmona Laredo, board member of the PRD.

He added that the State Attorney General and not initiated any investigation of any alleged political implications, much less arrested anyone.

In the U.S. and Canada we play Rock, Scissors, Paper. In Mexico they play Lead, Paper, More Lead.

By Susan Waxley, Oaxaca, Mexico
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I expect the web site to post any updates on the story too.

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