Mexico tourist city blighted by political unrest

By Catherine Bremer

OAXACA, Mexico (Reuters) – One of Mexico’s prettiest cities
has been tainted by blood and scarred with graffiti in a
political conflict raising tensions in a country already on
tenterhooks over a contested presidential vote.

Months of protests aimed at toppling Oaxaca state Gov.
Ulises Ruiz spun out of control when gunmen believed to be
off-duty police opened fire on protesters twice this week,
killing one person. Five people have been killed this month.

Demonstrators, many from poor areas outside the city, have
barricaded roads and burned buses, scaring residents and the
few remaining tourists. Government offices, banks and tour
agencies in the main square have been closed all week; shops
and cafes are empty.

A favorite backpacker destination, Oaxaca city was largely
quiet on Thursday, but its elegant old buildings were
spray-painted with protest slogans and the air smelled of
garbage burned by protesters at road junctions.

Its streets now empty at nightfall, except for youths
carrying tires to burn.

“It’s horrifying. It’s terrible. We’re in their hands. I’m
scared standing here talking to you,” said Ana, 49, a property
executive who would not give her full name. She said she had
been jeered at for being light-skinned and well-dressed.

The State Department warned U.S. citizens on Thursday to be
careful if visiting Oaxaca. “Demonstrations have been marked by
mounting violence,” it said.

Protesters smashed up a hotel named after Spanish
conquistadors and painted on slogans like: “Tourist go home.”

PRESIDENTIAL BATTLE

Despite healthy economic growth this year, Mexico is
blighted by a yawning gap between rich and poor. Tensions
between the groups have been aggravated by a bitter battle over
who will be the next president.

Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has launched street
protests and sit-ins in Mexico City to push his demand that
conservative rival Felipe Calderon’s narrow victory in the July
2 vote be ruled fraudulent. A court will decide in the next two
weeks which of the two is president-elect.

Upheaval in Oaxaca began three months ago with a strike
over pay by around 40,000 teachers but students, Indian groups
and left-wing radicals have joined the protests.

An attempt by police firing tear gas to dislodge striking
teachers from the Zocalo square failed in June, only hardening
opposition to the Institutional Revolutionary Party governor.

Human rights groups, land activists and journalists say
Ruiz, whose PRI party ruled Mexico for 71 years often with an
iron hand, has ridden roughshod over opponents and the media.

“We want him out for being incompetent, corrupt and an
oppressor,” said activist Feliciano Caballero, 30. “We don’t
support any political party. We want a government of the
people.”

Assailants shot open the door of a shop in Oaxaca city
owned by the America Movil mobile telephone company, stealing
phones and other equipment.

Protesters had accused the firm on local radio stations
they have seized of deliberately crashing cellular services to
prevent communication between militants. The company said
phones stopped working briefly due to maintenance work.

The new Oaxacan People’s Popular Assembly, or APPO, has
emerged to lead the protests. “They are provoking us so that
the federal government sends in the army and everything ends in
a blood bath,” APPO spokesman Antonio Gomez said.