The account of the violence in Atenco is, to the best of my knowledge, incomplete and innacurate. I have been following this issue, as I am interested in the Zapatista movement.
What happened is that flower sellers were peddling their wares in the outdoor market, and a large number of police showed up to evict them. This is believed to be in large part because Walmart wants to build a superstore there. The flower sellers resisted, and it was Mexican police with guns and tear gas against peasant farmers with rocks and machetes; by the end of the day there was at least one peasant farmer killed and 400 detained or in some cases "dissapeared." The citizens in the area joined in on the side of the flower sellers, obstructing the police, barricading roads, etc, and it may be at this point that police were beaten. For what its worth, NAFTA and the spread of global industry is hitting Mexico hard; it is common for industries to move in and tap into the water sources which the local farmers depend on, effectively destroying the agrarian economy. The destruction of the agrarian economy and consequent displacement of the farmers is a major factor compelling the wave of immigration north of the border. President Fox is a buffoon and a sock puppet for US financial interests. He is widely detested. Obrador offers hope of reform, but Marcos has been conducting what he calls "the other campaign," which is not about electoral politics at all, but rather traveling throughout the rural areas, calling together the people threatened by the invasion of multinational corporations, etc and discussing what they can do directly to protect themselves, their land, their water, their way of life. Lee On Wednesday 17 May 2006 11:17, Craig McCluskey wrote: > One of the list subscribers has mentioned that he lives in Mexico. > > This evening, I ran across > > http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MEXICO_VOTE_OF_FEAR?SITE=AP&SECTION= >HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-05-17-06-12-44 > > which paints a pretty bleak picture of things down there. > > > Is this an accurate picture? > > > Thanks, > > > Craig > > _______________________________________ > http://www.striplin.net > For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ > For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net
