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Mexico tourist city blighted by political unrest

Posted on: Thursday, 24 August 2006, 18:11 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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