jp's blog

By Nancy Davies
Commentary from Oaxaca
January 15, 2007

On Tuesday, January 9, the Supreme Court of Mexico decided that the Oaxaca state legislature could not vote itself an extra year in office. Given this denial of “self-prorogation�, the “ordinary� elections for state legislators will be held the first Sunday in August of 2007. The newly elected legislators will take office on November 13, for a three year term.

Mexican elections are done in a double way; that is, there is a direct majority vote, plus there is a proportional vote, for which the political parties maintain a list of available people who are then assigned posts according to the number of votes their party gains. A legislator need not live in the area s/he represents. To that, add the fact that the majority of Oaxaca communities vote without any political parties (usos y costumbres), but somehow their non-affiliated representatives must be attributed to a party in order to take their seats.

Almost 13 Years After the Armed Uprising, Achievements of the Autonomous Governments Are Illustrated

By Hermann Bellinghausen
La Jornada
January 12, 2007

Oventic, Chiapas, MX. December 30, 2006: One day before the 13th anniversary of its armed uprising, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) welcomed followers from 30 countries, all adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, which Lt. Colonel Moisés, in name of the “Zezta Internazional,� called “an encounter of resistances and rebellions against global capitalism and neoliberalism, which has prepared for and planned the death and destruction of humanity and the natural environment.� Or, how to prepare ourselves and continue organizing to resist and combat the “common enemy� of humanity.

By Nancy Davies
“A Personal View�
January 11, 2007

So first I had to do errands. I walked past Santo Domingo. Surprise, surprise, all access is blocked with police and iron barricades. I spoke innocently with one policewoman (not helmeted, but wearing a bulletproof vest) and asked her why the barricade? For the march. No entry to the Santo Domingo area, despite church permission for the marchers. The policewoman asked me if I wanted to enter the street, and I replied, “No, thanks. It’s supposed to be intimidating to have so many police, and it is – it’s me they’re intimidating.� She replied, if you see many police, that means security. I responded, if I see many police, that means a high crime area. (I didn’t say police crime.) But isn’t it ugly?

Resources and Education Are Still the Main Struggles for Better Health in Zapatista Communities

By Ginna Villarreal
Special to The Narco News Bulletin
January 11, 2007

In his December 24 communiqué, Comandante Moises of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN in its Spanish acronym) invited the people of the world to the first “Encuentro de los Pueblos Zapatistas con los Pueblos del Mundo� (Meeting of the Zapatista Peoples with the Peoples of the World). He said: “We are only trying to show what we are building, with many difficulties, but also with many desires constructing another world, one in which those that command, command obeying.�

“An indigenous people’s non-violent efforts to find a space for political participation and representation...�

By Francisco López Bárcenas
La Jornada
January 10, 2007

On January 1, of this year, Oaxaca woke up with one more municipality, that of San Juan Copala, created by Triqui communities who officially belong to the Mixtec municipalities of Juxtlahuaca, Putla y Constancia del Rosario, in the western part of the state; municipalities controlled by mestizos. But this isn’t just one more municipality out of the 570 in the state. This one is autonomous, like those that indigenous peoples are constructing in different parts of the country as a way of defending their rights and building their own future.

AP’s Rebeca Romero Insists She Is Not on Ulises Ruiz’s Payroll, but Publishes Her Denial on Her Website Next to an Ad… Purchased by the Oaxaca State Government

By Al Giordano
Publisher, Narco News
January 9, 2007

Associated Press correspondent in Oaxaca, Rebeca Romero, sent us an email on Sunday, January 7, and also published it on her website, ADN Sureste (“Southeast Digital News Agency�), of which she is the publisher. Her letter (and introduction to it on her website) is marked by the same shoddy qualities as her AP reports from Oaxaca during 2006 about the conflicts there. She makes vague claims that she does not document about a supposed “lynch mob climate� against her that she says was generated by Narco News, specifically by a report that she is paid by Oaxaca’s state government, which she denies.