Oaxaca Machaca, Remixed

November poll of 2,210 El Financiero Web site visitors. Two most voted options: (1) Give in to APPO demands, and (2) form an interim state government for Oaxaca. Which amount to the same thing: More than 80% of respondents believed Segob should kick Ruiz out rather than sending the PFP in.

mediocracia (Mexico) notes this Feb. 23 piece from Univision Online — published, interestingly enough, at a time when rumors surfaced that Vicente Fox was in the running to head the U.S. Spanish-language TV network. It’s titled “The Media and the Oaxaca Conflict.”

It touches minimally on the issue of death squads, or human rights findings on the same, or the targeting of journalists by the same, all of which have been amply covered even by some of the middle of the road metro dailies. And it does not source the polling referred to, or provide even soft numbers to back its characterization of the results.

The Mediocritic’s recent homage to Ryszard Kapuściński, by the way, also invites a reading in light of an interesting debate in Brazilian journalistic circles at the moment whether the scumbling of the lines between factual reporting and fictional by the “pioneering literary journalist” made him a seducer of troubled souls like Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass. Like I said, an interesting debate.

The triumph of narrative coherence and literary style over facts. Life as it should be, not as it is. The Gleemonex experience.

I translate, as ever, in haste.

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO – A tres meses de que supuestamente culminara uno de los más graves conflictos sociales del país, Oaxaca aún no resuelve sus problemas y tanto rebeldes como autoridades locales y federales siguen enfrentados en una lucha que generó pérdidas económicas por más de $370 millones y dejó 15 muertos.

Three months after the supposed end of one of Mexico’s most serious social conflicts, Oaxaca has yet to resolve its problems, and both rebels and local and federal authorities continue to face off in a struggle that has generated losses of $15 million and left 15 dead.

Ulises, el villano favorito

Ruiz: designated villain

Días después del repliegue de los simpatizantes de la APPO del centro histórico de Oaxaca, en noviembre pasado, sondeos de opinión dejaron ver que entre los distintos actores implicados en el conflicto, los oaxaqueños percibían una mayor responsabilidad de que no se encontrara una solución, en la figura del gobernador local Ulises Ruiz.

Days after sympathizers of APPO deployed in the historical downtown area of Oaxaca, last November, opinion polls showed that among the various actors in the conflict, Oaxaca residents attributed the greater responsibility for the failure to find a solution to local governor Ulíses Ruiz.

Con buen trecho de distancia, los oaxaqueños también atribuían la nula solución al conflicto a las malas actuaciones de la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO, la organización rebelde que protagonizó el levantamiento en la entidad) y del ex presidente mexicano Vicente Fox.

To a signficantly lesser degree, residents also attributed the lack of a solution to the misconduct of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO, the rebel organization that conducted the uprising in the state) and ex-president Vicente Fox.

“Enorme discriminación”

“Vast discrimination”

Pero para Jesús López Rodríguez, vocero de la APPO, los resultados emitidos por las casas encuestadoras no tienen validez alguna, en tanto son un mero reflejo “de la enorme discriminación a los movimientos sociales de México” por parte de quienes habitan en las esferas del poder.

But for Jesús López Rodríguez, APPO spokesperson, the poll results have no validity whatsoever, but merely reflect “the vast discrimination against Mexican social movements” by those who inhabit the halls of power.

En entrevista con Univision Online explicó que como parte de una estrategia de desprestigio, líderes políticos y empresariales han realizado una serie de recomendaciones al gobierno de Ulises Ruiz para destruir su movimiento revolucionario.

In an interview with Univision Online, he explained that as part of the strategy to discredit the movement, political and business leaders made a series of recommendations to Ruiz on how to destroy the revolutionary movement.

Entre ellas, aseguró, “aconsejaron a las autoridades del estado derribar a las principales cabezas de la APPO” con la intención de apagar todo el movimiento, además dijo que exhortaron a Ulises Ruiz a emprender una campaña de imagen pública para erigirse como una víctima de la violencia provenida de los rebeldes.

Among those, he affirms, were “to advise the state government to knock down the principal leaders of APPO” with the aim of snuffing out the movement as a whole, and says that they urged Ruiz to use a public relations campaign to set himself up as a victim of violence promoted by the rebels.

Which he did. You should sample some of the product from that campaign, which included commercial news radio stations reporting that Indymedia journalistBradley Will was an armed terrorist.

And the folks carrying this out — see Mexico: Whois Whodunnit Exposes the Infowar, for example — were not just boneheaded infowar baboons, either: See The Rocha Indictment: Why The TV Azteca ‘Reporter’ is The NMM Specimen Scumbag of the Year.

Apoyo incondicional

Unconditional support

Desde el principio del movimiento, manifestó el portavoz de la APPO, hemos sido víctimas de una campaña mediática nacional que intenta denigrarnos y hacernos ver como unos rufianes, pero no es así, tanto que durante todo este tiempo hemos recibido el apoyo incondicional de distintos sectores de la población.

From the beginning of the movement, said the APPO spokesperson, ["]we have been the victim of a national media campaign that is trying to discredit us and make us out to be thugs, but that is not so, which is why during that entire time we received unconditional support from various sectors of the population. ["]

I am assuming that was a direct quote, given that it is phrased in the first person. Hire a copy editor.

“Esto lo evidenciamos en la pasada ‘megamarcha’ del 3 de febrero en el centro histórico de Oaxaca”, donde de acuerdo con reporteros de los diferentes medios de comunicación que estuvieron presentes, los rebeldes convocaron a unos 20 mil simpatizantes.

“We showed this is in the ‘megamarch’ on Feb. 3 in the historical downtown area of Oaxaca,” where according to reporters from various media outlets who were on hand, the rebels summoned 20,000 supporters to the street.

As of the census of 2005, there were 526,000 people living in the city of Oaxaca.

La apreciación de la gente

Interpreting the people

No obstante, el doctor Raúl Trejo Delarbre, uno de los especialistas en medios de comunicación más reconocidos de México, proporcionó una serie de afirmaciones contrarias a las aseveraciones hechas por Jesús López Rodríguez, miembro de la APPO.

However, Raúl Trejo Delarbre [the mediocracia blogger, blogging his own mediocratic appearance in the mediacrity -- Ed.] one of Mexico’s most distinguished experts on the media, provided a series of statements contrary to those of the APPO spokesperson.

Univision is represented on the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, one notes — on whose promiscuity with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, see, for example,  ‘Bush Makes Recess Appointment To Broadcasting Board Of Governors’.

Explicó que las encuestas sobre Oaxaca, al igual que el resto de los sondeos que se hacen en el país, ofrecen datos fidedignos y debemos tomarlos en cuenta como lo que son, “apreciaciones de lo que opina un segmento de la sociedad en un momento específico”.

He explained that the surveys on Oaxaca, like all polls conducted in the country, offer trustworthy data and that we must take into account that they are “interpreting what a segment of society thinks at a given moment.”

See also two recent cases involving Mexican opinion polling:

• Mexican Elections Defended by Idiots: Lies, Damned Lies, and the Critique of Pure Polling
• “The Surprising Popularity of Felipe Calderón”

And a Brazilian case, for comparison:

• The People Have Faith in Electronic Voting!

To me, the irony of seeing an institution that charged with providing accurate, down-to-the-penny bean-counting relying on statistical methods and opinion polling to publicly defend its alleged competence is simply jaw-dropping.

The same goes for the massive publicity blitz that tried to shore up the credibility of IFE.

But I digress.

No hay certeza de que estén amañados por sus realizadores, ni mucho menos son oráculos, ni instrumentos para predecir el futuro, si se realizan con rigor metodológico son una suerte de fotografía que retrata lo que percibe la población en un momento y lugar específicos.

We cannot state with certainty that might be manipulated by pollsters, and they are, after all, not oracles or machines for predicting the figure, if they are done with proper methodological rigor they are a sort of snapshot that depicts what the population perceives and feels at specific moments in specific places.

I would not say that that contradicts the APPO guy, exactly.

But okay, fair enough.

You might think the APPO was a little over the top in trying to exaggerate popular support for “the revolution.”

I would have been more comfortable if the Univision reporter had quoted the exact words he used to deny that the polls had any validity whatsoever. The words quoted describe a general campaign to lie and distort in reporting on APPO’s role in the situation.

Which I have seen examples of.

It’s a credible assertion.

So rebut it with facts or get off the pot.

There is a whiff of false dilemma about this way of framing the two points of view.

Still, if that really is what he said, or implied, it would be fair to ask the APPO flacks: Is it not enough that Ruiz was far and away the villain in the poll?

Free advice: Declare victory and soft-peddle the degree to which people are annoyed with you.

As how could they not be? Chaos in the streets is a pain in the ass, no matter what the cause or who is principally to blame.

If they are like Brooklynites, most Oaxacans just want to earn their daily tortillas and relax with their families in front of a good football game without having to worry about the hooded men in the pickup trucks with the state-issued bulletproof vests, cruising around and blasting at journalists.

That is my free flackery advice.

As if styles of flackery were the point here.

I have heard these folks talking more along the lines of “applying the laws and the Constitution” rather than “revolution” in the sense of replacing the political order — although the banana-republican press has been at some pains to suggest otherwise, often mendaciously.

See especially Translation: A Free Primer for the WaPo, in which Jefferson Morley grossly misrepresents the views and analysis of a Proceso columnist to promote the view that the movement is a bunch of Cuban-sponsored Maoist radicals who are out to barbecue forcibly aborted white babies, come hell or high water.

Their message, as stated at least, is “if the government will not enforce the law, and insists on breaking it itself, then we need a government up in this mother that will.”

“When in the course of human events” kind of stuff.

I still do not see any credible signs that they do not intend to act accordingly, or have not been able to get their followers to stick to the Satyagraha line — with some nonlethal defensive measures admitted as an exception, apparently.

Not yet, anyway.

PFP, Gobernación y la APPO

PFP, The Governance Ministry and APPO

En ese sentido, los mencionados sondeos revelaron que entre las diversas instituciones y personas que se vieron implicadas en el conflicto, los que generaron una mayor aprobación por la manera como se condujeron fueron la Policia Federal Preventiva y los empresarios de Oaxaca, cuya economía disminuyó en un 90 por ciento.

In this sense, the polls reveal that among the various persons and institutions involved in the conflict, the ones who receive the highest level of approval are the federal PFP and the business owners of Oaxaca, whose economy has shrunk by 90 percent.

Source on that economic number? The Chamber of Commerce?

Le siguen los medios de comunicación, el entonces secretario de Gobernación, Carlos Abascal y los congresistas del país. En contraste quienes se pensaba actuaron de manera menos correcta son los dirigentes de la APPO, así como el PRI y el PRD (las principales fuerzas políticas en el estado).

The media come next, followed by Fox interior secretary Abascal and the national legislature. In contrast, the persons found to have acted least properly are the APPO leaders, as well as the PRI and PRD (the principle political forces in the state).

I think the APPO has a valid point about the distorting effect of media coverage on public opinion here.

On some of the actions of the TV and radio duopoly in Oaxaca, which cooperated in massive disinformation campaigns that included broadcasting that Bradley Will was “an armed terrorist,” see my The Rocha Indictment: Why The TV Azteca ‘Reporter’ is The NMM Specimen Scumbag of the Year.

According to the Netroots, “Oaxaca paramilitaries were merely firing into the air” on the day Brad Will of Indymedia was killed. According to TV Azteca, Oaxaca protesters “traded [bullets] with paramilitaries.” According to a recent NMM correspondent who signed him- or herself “John Dickie,”the truth is nowhere.” In this Indymedia photo snapped the day of Will’s death, the gun appears to be pointed straight at the camera. Somebody explain this to me, would you, please?

Una cobertura equilibrada

Balanced coverage

Tomando en cuenta esos resultados, el doctor Trejo Delarbre reconoció el trabajo periodístico de los medios nacionales e internacionales durante los meses que lleva el movimiento político social.

Taking into account these results, Dr. Trejo praised the journalistic work of the national and international media during the months that the political social movement has been going on.

I would like to have the hard numbers for those results summarized, please, along with the questions asked, and all the usual jive that goes with reporting on poll results.

And to understand why poll results from November are an issue at the moment.

This is March.

Carnaval is over.

The cruelest month is approaching.

“Aparentemente fue equilibrado, considerando que dejaron escuchar las distintas voces tanto de los hombres del poder político y los empresarios, así como de la población oaxaqueña y los dirigentes y bases de la APPO“, explicó.

“It was apparently balanced, considered that various voices were heard from, including the political powers and businessmen as well as the population and the APPO base of supporters,” he said.

Sin embargo, dijo, al final las comparecencias de los rebeldes en los medios fueron más bien desafortunadas, conformadas por declaraciones fundamentalistas y soberbias que declinaron en cierto rechazo de la población en el país.

However, he said, in the final analysis the media appearances by the rebels were much more unfortunate, characterized by fundamentalist and arrogant declarations that resulted in a certain degree of rejection by the Mexican population.

For example?

Tranquilidad y sosiego

Peace and quiet

Reconoció además la prontitud con la que el movimiento dejó de ser noticia en los medios de comunicación, dando paso a emisiones publicitarias de las riquezas turísticas de la región, el motor de la economía local, que en los pasados meses regristró pérdidas por unos 60 millones de dólares.

He also noted how quickly the movement stopped being covered in the news, giving way to advertising on the rich tourist experiences of the region, which drive the local economy and which has registered losses of some $60 million.

I thought it was $370 million since November? No wait, since last June, when the strike led to the sit-ins and the sit-ins led to the generalized porrada and typewriting of the machineguns.

“Las oficinas de los diarios operan bajo las premisas de la espectacularidad y lo novedoso, la revuelta social de Oaxaca se fue desgastando conforme pasaron los días, lo cual derivó en hartazgo por parte de los medios y de las audiencias que produjo la búsqueda de nuevos temas de noticia”, indicó.

“Newspaper newsrooms operate on the premise of what is spectacular and novel, the revolt lost steam as time went on, and some of the media and their audiences got tired of it, which made them look for new topics to cover,” he said.

Television and radio news stations lied their asses off. Rochas is not even the worst of them, it’s just that he is the one trying to make excuses for what he did in order to defend his professional reputation. It really is a nauseating sight.

A medida que los miembros del movimiento desocuparon el Centro Histórico de la capital de Oaxaca, reapareció entre la gente una sensación de tranquilidad entre las audiencias que, aunado a la decreciente cobertura de los medios de comunicación, resultó en un sentimiento de que todo volvía a la normalidad.

As the members of the movement started leaving the historical town center, people noted a restored sense of transquility among their audiences which, coupled with declining coverage by the media, resulted in a sense that everything was returning to normal.

Without clarifying the issue of death squad activity, which folks like Rocha gave direct cover to.

Excesos policiacos

Police excesses

No obstante, Jesús González, ex miembro del Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, uno de los organismos que han seguido el problema social desde sus inicios, criticó el reconocimiento popular respecto a la labor de la Policía Federal Preventiva en Oaxaca.

However, Jésus Gónzalez, former member of the Miguel Agustín Center for Human Rights, one of the organizations that has followed the social problem since the beginning, criticized this popular respect for the work of the PFP in Oaxaca.

Mexico’s Supreme Court has issued a factual finding about human rights abuses by the PFP in San Salvador Atenco affair that will make your jaw drop.

“Ciertamente hay una percepción de que la PFP cumplió con su deber al haber ingresado a la entidad para contener el movimiento, sin embargo diferentes organizaciones de derechos humanos denunciaron las distintas violaciones a las garantías individuales de muchos de los detenidos”, indicó.

“Certainly there was the perception that the PFP did its job in entering the city to contain the movement, but various rights groups observed a number of violations of the individual rights of many of the persons detained,” he said.

“Documentaron los excesos de la fuerza pública, la desaparición de decenas de personas, la existencia de grupos parapoliciacos que operaron bajo el auspicio del gobierno local, entre otras muchas irregularidades”, explicó el ahora defensor de derechos humanos independiente.

They documented excessive force, the disappearance of dozens of persons, the existence of para-police groups operating under the auspices of the local government, and many other irregularities,” says the currently independent human rights defender.

Why did he quit?

Socialmente, argumentó, el apoyo de la gente a la PFP se debió más a la necesidad de paz y estabilidad en la región que a una presunta desaprobación a las causas de la APPO.

Socially, he argues, the popular support for the PFP had more to do with the need for peace and stability than with any explicit disapproval of APPO’s causes.

La salida de Ruiz

The Ouster of Ruiz

Finalmente, los sondeos dejan ver que el movimiento culminaría definitivamente hasta que Ulises Ruiz abandone el poder político de Oaxaca.

Finally, the polls show that the movement would (should) come to a definitive end if Ruiz were to abandon the governorship of the state.

Ante la hipotética situación de que hubiera una consulta pública para someter a consideración popular la permanencia de Ulises Ruiz en el gobierno, los estudios revelan que la mayoría de la población se inclinaría porque no terminará su mandato, mientras que sólo unos cuantos oaxaqueños lo refrendarían en el gobierno del estado”.

Given a hypothetical situation in which a public referendum were to be held on whether Ruiz should stay or go, the studies revealed the majority would prefer he serve out his term, whereas only a few Oaxacans would topple him as governor.

Hard numbers from this four-month old poll, which was conducted by whom, please?

Pero para Jesús González, estudioso del problema oaxaqueño, la salida de Ruiz sería el detonante para logar reformar estructures de fondo, más no el objetivo final del movimiento, pues el problema no comenzó con su llegada al gobierno, sino fue su mandato el que agudizó las tensiones en la entidad.

But for Jesús González, who studies the situation in Oaxaca, the departure of Ruiz might be the catalyst of deep structural reforms, but not the movement’s ultimate objective, given that the problem did start with Ruiz’s arrival, even if it was his mandate that heightened tensions in the state.

“Su relevo en el poder, propiciaría un ambiente de entendimiento entre las diferentes partes y favorecería transformaciones políticas y sociales, que derivarían en el mejoramiento al acceso a la salud, la educación y la disminución de la pobreza.”

“His departure would favor an environment of mutual understanding among the different parties and promote political and social transformations deriving from improved access to health and education and the reduction of poverty.”

Nueves meses de caos

Nine months of chaos

En mayo de 2006, unos 70 mil profesores agrupados en la Sección 22 del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación comenzaron una serie de bloqueos y marchas en demanda de un aumento salarial para su gremio, pero fueron desalojados violentamente por la policía local presuntamente instigada por el gobernador Ulises Ruiz.

In May of 2006, some 70,000 teachers from Section 22 of the SNTE began a series of blockades and marches, demanding a salary raise, but were violently dislodged by local police, presumably (allegedly) at the instigation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

In nine months, Mexican federal authors have not been able to either confirm or rebut the charge that state police controlled by Ruiz acted as political paramilitaries.

We have tons of photographs of men running around with their face uncovered at high noon in downtown Oaxaca, shooting off guns at APPO barricades.

Inspector Clousseau could resolve the factual issues in a single afternoon and still have time for a good karate tussle with his faithful manservant, Kato.

I have never understood the entire chronology encapsulated there.

At what point did the local police doing the dislodging take off their uniforms, put on their ski masks, and start assassinating strikers? Did they ever do any of this dislodging with their uniforms on?

The contract was up for renewal, inconveniently, during an election season, I understand.

Al movimiento social se unieron otras agrupaciones opositoras al gobernador degenerando en la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca que exigía la caída de Ruiz. Los rebeldes tomaron el centro histórico y las instalaciones de la universidad pública de la ciudad. El asunto llegó hasta el Congreso mexicano y el gobierno federal.

The social movement received support from other groups opposed to the governor and joined together in the APPO, which called for the ouster of Ruiz. The rebels seized control of the town center and the local public university. The matter came to the attention of the Congress and federal government.

SNTE Local 22 is a labor union.

Part of the national union run by Elba Esther Gordillo, in fact, whom it defied in voting to call for and carry out a strike in this case.

Mexican labor unions are political machines. Gordillo, who once headed both the PRI and the SNTE simultaneously — representing both management and labor — makes Mayor Daley of Chicago — the father, of 1968 Democratic National Convention infamy– look like Big Gay Al the Scoutmaster in terms of leadership styles.

Duh.

I guess that makes it a “social movement” in a sense, but it also makes it an officially recognized and registered collective bargaining unit, regulated by Mexican labor law, does it not?

This is not some tax-exempt “bloggers for Dean” 501(c) we are talking about here.

And wait just a freaking minute: did the movement really “seize and occupy” the university?

I know, or think I know, that students and faculty sympathetic to the movement took over the radio station there, helped coordinate APPO actions, and later claimed that the PFP had illegally tried to violate the university’s statutory autonomy by invading it.

There are photos and video of the PFP in that day of confrontation. Are they on-campus or off? Talking to local witnesses and some Google Earth usage could resolve that factual dispute as well.

Fue así que el entonces presidente Vicente Fox ordenó la entrada de la Policía Federal Preventiva provocando una violenta crisis que dejó más de 15 muertos y 140 detenidos, entre ellos los principales dirigentes del movimiento.

It was then that President Vicente Fox ordered the PFP in, unleashing a violent crisis that left more than 15 dead and 140 detained, among them the principal leaders of the movement.

Whoa. Fact-check time again.

I may be mistaken — there is not exactly a lot of reliable reporting on the situation out there — but I believe that almost all of those deaths occurred before the PFP went in.

Death squad activity, that sort of thing.

Santiago Indymedia has a chronology of events. Somebody want to fact-check that for us?

There’s still FUD around whether federal forces were involved or not prior to the formal intervention at Fox’s instigation, as a response to the violent crisis.

The involvement of this gentleman, head of the Mexican FBI, has been alleged.

Even the U.S. Dept. of State — “We defend human rights. Void where prohibited by warlords” — characterized the PFP entry into the city, in so many words, as a response to a violent crisis.

See State Masturbates.

So those three statements in the capsule history seem wrong to me.

Let me check .

There were certainly quite a few dead and injured before the PFP arrived, which this reporter fails to mention in breezing past the “violent dislodging by local [i.e., state judicial] police.”

Including six on June 14, 2006.

An eyewitness report from the time, a communque by a local rights group (see the link above for more info and the folks who passed it on):

Nos encontramos sumamente alarmados por la situación que prevalece en Oaxaca. Desde las 4 de la mañana hora local han entrado policías vestidos de civil, elementos de al menos 6 cuerpos policíacos estatales y se tiene información de que se han pedido refuerzos de la Policía Federal Preventiva destacamentada en otros estados.

We find ourelves extremely alarmed by the prevailing situation in Oaxaca. Since 4 a.m. local policemen dressed in civilian clothing, with elements of at least 6 state police forces, have come in, and there is information that reinforcements have been requested from PFP detachments in other states.

Entraron armados, lanzando bombas de gas lacrimógenas y bombas de humo, golpearon y destruyeron varias tiendas de campaña, hubo módulos del campamento completamente destruidas. Sembraron armas y drogas en La Casa-Hotel del Magisterio y en el plantón. En el recorrido que realizamos encontramos cartuchos de armas de alto poder R15.

They entered armed, throwing tear-gas and smoke bombs, beating people and destroying various field tents, some components of the encampment were completely destroyed. They planted weapons and drugs in the Teacher’s House and in the sit-in locations. In the search we did afterwards we found cartridges for the high-powered R15 rifle.

I believe they mean the AR-15:

Will check.

Entraron al edificio del Sindicato de Maestros y destruyeron parte del equipo de “Radio Plantón” y se llevaron parte de este. Los profesores y profesoras que se encontraban en el edificio fueron golpeados y encañonados y les robaron sus objetos de valor personales como cadenas, anillos, aretes y dinero. Al parecer se detuvieron en ese momento a 12 profesores, no se tienen los nombres.

They entered the SNTE Local 22 union hall and destroyed part of the equipment used by “Radio Sit-In” and carried other equipment off. The teachers who were found inside the building were punched and pistol-whipped and robbed of personal items such as chains, rings, pendants and cash. It seems that they have arrested 12 teachers as of this moment, we do not have their names.

Se sabe de al menos 6 muertos, entre ellos dos mujeres, un hombre, dos niños y un policía, hay más de 30 heridos de gravedad, cuatro de ellos policías. Los profesores han declarado que hay más de 100 detenidos en diferentes partes, los tienen incomunicados, se tienen solamente el nombre de cuatro de ellos Arcelio Ruiz Villanueva, Ociel Martínez Martínez, Eduardo Castellanos Morales y Robert Gazga, un periodista golpeado. Hay reportes de cientos de personas desaparecidas, algunos de ellos niña: XOCHILT HERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA (10 años) y Mtra. JUANA MANUEL PEDRO, Mtras: MIOSOTI GUZMAN SERRANO y ALMA ROSA GUZMAN SERRANO, que se encontraban en el plantón; LESIONADOS: Juvenal García Olivera de San Vicente Lachixio.

Six are confirmed dead, among them two women, a man, two children and a policeman, and 30 seriously wounded, among them 4 police. The teachers have stated that there are more than 100 persons detained in various locations, being held incommunicado, but have the names of only four: [names]. There are reports of persons who have disappeared, among them a young girl, XOCHILT HERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA, 10, and teachers [names], who were at the sit-in. Wounded: [name]

Indymedia is pointing to this page as a compilation of casualties from the June 14 bustup. I cannot confirm that information without going to some trouble.

The press is supposed to do that for me.

En el transcurso de la mañana, nos enteramos de una profesora embarazada que se encontraba abortando murió, por los golpes que recibió por parte de los policías, que además no permitía que entrara la ambulancia para trasladarla a un hospital, los médicos independientes que voluntariamente acudieron a atender a los heridos fueron desalojados por los policías con bombas lacrimógenas.

As the morning wore on, we learned that a pregnant teacher who suffered a miscarriage died from blows received from police, who would not permit her to board an ambulance to take her to the hospital. The independent physicians who voluntarily came to tend to the wounded were driven off by police with tear-gas.

Reminds me of Geneva Convention Out the Window in Rio Free-Fire Zones?

No se tienen información sobre el número de heridos hospitalizados. El director del ISSSTE se negó a proporcionar información sobre los heridos y muertos. Aproximadamente a las 10:00 de la mañana los profesores recuperaron el zócalo. En la calle de Arista hay dos camionetas quemadas de la policía ministerial.

There is no information on the number of wounded in hospitals. The director of the public health service refused to provide information on the dead and wounded. At around 10 a.m. the teachers took back the town square. There are two burned state police trucks on Arista St.

Se mantuvo unas horas de calma y a las 12:30 empezaron a sobrevolar nuevamente 4 helicópteros de la PFP lanzando bombas lacrimógenas en los puntos donde se están concentrando los profesores, 15 camionetas de la policía salieron de la Central de Abastos dirigiéndose al zócalo. Los cuerpos policíacos se han concentrado en diferentes puntos como el IEEPO, el Rosario, La colonia Alemán. En el periférico cuerpos policíacos se encuentran distribuidos.

Several hours of calm followed, then at 12:30 p.m. 4 PFP helicopters flew over launching tear-gas bombs at places where teachers were gathering, and 15 police pick-up trucks left the central station on their way to town square. The police forces had gathered at various points, including IEEPO, Rosario, and the Alemán neighborood. Police forces were found scattered around the perimeter of the square.

And so forth.

Lurid, is it not?

Brazilian TV loves to show that sort of thing, but the more genteel Mexican viewing public apparently prefer Yoga with Judy. According to the mediocrat blogger here.

And all for naught, because APPO’s PR people have a way of talking that does not play well on primetime newscasts, which makes them less credible or infotaining than the PFP, despite this recent development: Mexican Supremes: Attila Acted in Atenco.

Please. I can jerk myself off just fine, thank you very much.