Urgent Communiqué from San Blas Atempa, Oaxaca

The Other Journalism Is in San Blas Right Now, with the People…

By the Popular Autonomous Town Council

March 1, 2006

Today, March 1, 2006, as the Popular Autonomous Town Council and the civil resistance of San Blas Atempa complete fifteen months of struggle, at 04:00 hours a command of more than 200 well-armed soldiers arrived unexpectedly. The troops were sent directly by the state government to evacuate the town hall, which is now occupied by the Popular Autonomous Town Council due to the post-electoral conflict of January 1, 2005. Having been the site of violent and bloody acts in the past, San Blas Atempa demands that this savagery not be repeated.

Read the February 6 report “Ya Basta (“Enough Already”) in San Blas, Oaxaca”

Watch the video newsreel “Subcomandante Marcos Goes to Jail: A Visit to the Political Prisoners of San Blas, Oaxaca”

UPDATE (Recieved at 17:12 Mexico City time)

San Blas Atempa, Oaxaca, March 1, 2006

To the General Command of the
Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee of the EZLN
Attn. Subcomandante Marcos

Early this morning, the police of this state, headed by the fraudulent Governor Ulises Ruiz, cordoned off the Municipal Palace (town hall), working in favor of PRI town councilor Eliseo Reyes, a puppet of local congresswoman Agustina Acevedo. At this time in the afternoon (2:30 PM) the people are on a state of alert and it seems highly probable that there could be a confrontation like that which occurred on January 1, 2005. We place direct responsibility on the state government, on Ulises Ruis, on Jorge Franco Vargas and on political boss Agustina Acevedo for what happens in San Blas. We don’t want another Iraq here in our autonomous municipality; this provocation comes from the authoritarian and inauthentic government that rules Oaxaca.

The response from the people is to not take one step back. No to our forced integration (into the political system) and yes to negotiation based on the list of demands that follows. But nothing before the departure of the state police from our town hall.

LIST OF DEMANDS

1. The disappearance of the authorities from the municipality.

2. The immediate and unconditional release of our four political prisoners.

3. The cancellation of the arrest warrants against 72 compañeros that have been in effect since January 1, 2005.

4. The removal of local congresswoman Agustina Acevedo Gutierrez’s immunity from prosecution, in order to move one step closer to a legal investigation into the crimes and corruption that she has committed in our municipality.

If there is no effective solution to our problem, we have agreed that there will be no presidential elections in San Blas Atempa on July 2, 2006.

Fraternally,

The Popular Autonomous Town Council
Guillermo Salinas Gallegos

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