APPO in Yucatán
The Oaxaca Movement Declares Solidarity with the Peasant Farmers of Oxcum, Unjustly Imprisoned by the Governor
By Rafael Gómez Chi
Por Esto!
October 24, 2006
After demonstrating their solidarity with the people of the communal lands of Oxcum, illegally imprisoned by order of Yucatán Governor Patricio Patrón Laviada, representatives of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), who arrived in the state this weekend, affirmed that there are conditions here to establish a popular assembly, similar to the one which is fighting in Oaxaca.
Juan Velásquez Cruz, a member of the APPO, said that “there are many possibilities” to advance along these lines, although they will have to take into account the specific political and social conditions of this state.
“Today, as the APPO, we see many possibilities because the struggle of our brother peasants against those that attempt to rob them of their lands has just begun. The government not only wants to take away their only inheritance but also their culture. Conditions are being created for there to be a popular assembly in Yucatán,” he commented.
He said that three APPO brigades left Oaxaca on October 16, one traveling to the North, one to the center and one to the South, “with the concrete objective to begin to warn the country of the possible scenario of repression that is becoming discernable here in Oaxaca because of the negative response to and the complicity of the Senate in the removal of the three governmental powers.”
In the case of Yucatán, he said that the intentions are not on the electoral front. “We wager that, with our brothers from Oxcum, the foundation for an organization will be created so that when the next governor comes, we can tell him what our demands are.”
“What we want is that the Constitution be put in effect, that Article 39, which authorizes the people to create their own legal, state-level foundations,” he said.
He pointed out that “today, Oaxaca is like a laboratory for the Yunquistas where they are testing the capacity of the people to resist the assassinations, imprisonmentand more; yesterday marked our fifth month and if Subcomandante Marcos supported us, then we must unite ourselves because the struggle will be against a declared fascist government. Felipe Calderón Hinojosa has said that he will defend the interests of the rich and rise above the people.”
He assured that there is no possibility of defeat for the APPO. “What we are constructing cannot go back, nobody can do that, not even this very repression can force it back, today the wheels of history walk at the side of the peasants and the poor workers and we will not be defeated, even if they send the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) and the military. These will confront a people that will defend itself meter by meter, block by block. I do not believe that there will be defeat. We will advance.”
“Ulises Ruiz Ortiz is not important to the rich and the political parties, but what is important is that the entire country is noticing that an Oaxacan group is organizing, creating its own foundation as a people. There is no defeat, we are not backing down, we are moving forward and despite what the journalists are saying, we will be an important step in history,” he stated.
He affirmed that in reality, the fall of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz as the governor of Oaxaca is a secondary accomplishment for us, “because independently whether or not he falls legally or institutionally, he is already a political cadaver.”
Along the same lines, “what is on the table for discussion is the creation of a new constitution at the state level and the creation of popular groups in which the demands most felt by the most unprotected sectors are vindicate. this is what we are doing there, taking back the principle of popular power, the power of the proletariat, which begins to establish the foundations for a new Constitution.”
He said that his visit is part of his solidarity with the struggle of the Oxcum because it is legitimate. “This is not only happening here, but in La Parota, in Guerrero; in San Salvador Atenco; in Oaxaca with the “seismic corridor” project, it is a struggle of the entire country to defeat Plan Puebla Panamá, which by concrete means has the tendency to rob people of their lands, imprison and assassinate all those that want to protest it.”
He reiterated that for them, the APPO is already a national movement. “It is the heart of the entire country, it is the reflection of the political and social commotion that lived in Oaxaca and that will soon be at the national level in the coming years.”
He reminded that this weekend the National Assembly of the Peoples of Mexico was held and that in states such as Guerrero, Morelos, Michoacán, they have already formed popular assemblies. “The idea is to have them in all the states, and that we recreate the conditions for organization, taking up the teachings of the Oaxacan people, to confront that which comes, which is the arrival of el Yunque.”
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