Mexico teachers grab Oaxaca radio stations, shot at
State resorts to dirty war tactics in Oaxaca, struggle intensifies
At the center of the struggle is the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), a coalition of trade unionists, revolutionary Marxists and progressives came into being in June 2006.
The APPO was formed largely as a result of increased militancy by striking teachers and supporters who were attacked by state police on June 14 in Oaxaca’s capital. On that date, 15,000 workers beat back around 3,000 riot police. Since then, the teacher’s movement has grown into a popular movement demanding the ouster of Oaxaca’s governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and calling into question Mexico’s neoliberal policies that oppress workers, women and Indigenous people.
Since then, they’ve blockaded streets, seized radio stations, and mostly shut the capital down. While this rebellion predates Lopez Obrador challenging the outcome of the recent presidential election, the two movements have been growing off each other, steadily increasing in size and determination.