Lopez Obrador Continues his Tour in Oaxaca

PRI Goons Go Along to Hassle Him

By Nancy Davies
Commentary from Oaxaca

August 10, 2009

Viewing Oaxaca Through the Looking Glass we learn today that the trip made by the intrepid Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador to the usos y costumbres communities of Oaxaca gets the “security” treatment. That is to say, as AMLO fulfills his pledge to visit every one of the 417 communities which rule without internal political parties, the governor of Oaxaca hounds him at every stop, using the State Preventive Police (PPE) and local bosses (caciques), who for decades have ruled undisturbed and pillaged the remote indigenous and campesino communities.

Just to be clear on what pillage means, some of these communities have the lowest standards of living on the globe.

“Among shows of affection, the “Legitimate President ” continues his tour through the Mixteca D.R. 2009 Noticias

AMLO manages to kiss babies everywhere, (see photo with caption “Among shows of affection, the “Legitimate President ” continues his tour through the Mixteca), but his companions, the senators Gabino Cue and Salmon Jara who are accompanying him on his tour through the districts of Tlaxiaco and Putla, take a less tolerant view. The PPE chief in charge of following the political group accosted them in the town of Tataltepec. He refused to identify himself by name and made an obscene gesture (see photo, Andrés Melchor Hernandez making the “Rosqueseñal”[i] The caption asks, “And this is authority?”) to the senators, trying to provoke a fight. He was accompanied by several PPE men with heavy weapons, claiming to offer “security to the population” in its agrarian conflict with the neighboring town of Tilantongo.

Nevertheless, during the kissing and speeches the cop, later identified as Andrés Melchor Hernandez, stationed the armed men in the center of town, thus intimidating, not guarding the town population.

The tour, which will require a month, was accompanied by a lesser state official named Salvador Osorio Saucillo, who arrived in various municipalities of the Mixteca ahead of AMLO and handed out denigrating material. He was accompanied by PPE men in civilian clothes; all the public acts of AMLO’s tour were videographed “to keep informed” his superiors. Osorio Saucillo, questioned by reporters, told them in a sarcastic voice that he had orders to “guarantee security” for the visitors.

Andrés Melchor Hernandez making the “Rosqueseñal” The caption asks, “And this is authority?” D.R. 2009 Noticias

Osorio Saucillo is identified with the president of the state PRI party, Jorge “El Chucky” Franco Vargas, the superior alluded to, who traveled along in a VW with Mexico state license plates. Jorge Franco Vargas is the heir apparent to Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) for the next governorship of Oaxaca, and is widely believed to be the power behind the 2006 repressions.

Does any of this surprise us? The senators Cue and Jara denounced this “dirty war” and hostility as due to the mentality of URO who operates with informants, and intimidates the population so they won’t attend events headed by AMLO. The stranglehold of the PRI party out in the remoter areas is being challenged by AMLO’s coalition of PRD, PT and Convergencia –a measure of how desperate Oaxaca is to rid itself of PRI governance.

AMLO’s tour is accompanied by heavy local and national press which cover the activities of Lopez Obrador, and probably functions as a safeguard by its witnessing. These towns live isolated, and as far as I know, AMLO is the first national figure to bother to visit them, one might say it’s a tour de’ force all in itself.

Source: Noticias

[i] for those who want to know, the Roqueseñal originated ten years ago when Humberto Roque, a PRI leader, celebrated the approval of the hike in the I.V.A (tax) from 10 to 15% during a session of Congress with a two-handed obscene gesture. He is reported to have crowed “We fucked them!”

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