Paramilitary Attack on Radio Universidad in Oaxaca
Compas in Oaxaca tell us that yesterday evening, around 9 PM Radio Universidad, the local University radio station, was attacked by armed government goons. The people poured in to protect the station and the mostly women, children and elders that were there in support of the teachers’ strike. Transmission was temporarily interrupted by the attack but they managed to record the events and posted them on indymedia radio. As our small contribution to their struggle, here is a translation (paraphrased to some extent) of that recording, links to the recording itself and articles in Spanish about it.
INTERRUPTED TRANSMISSION:
Loud thuds, people screaming, phone busy signal, silence...voices trying to re-establish transmission. Transmission comes on, lots of background noise. A male voice: “To the people of Oaxaca: 50 heavily armed paramilitaries with machine guns, and pistols tried to take by force Radio Universidad, the people are congregating here to defend the radio. We are asking the people to come join the resistance, the people, university students the teachers. The attack was carried out by goons of –the Oaxacan Governor- Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. A teacher was on the air when the assault happened. Let’s denounce 3 trucks full of paramilitaries we’ll stay here until they are stopped, they have AKs, machine guns, military armament, we are telling you the truth because we know other media might not say the truth about what is happening here. They were repelled by the students, teachers and community. We call on all the media to come here to see what is happening.”
The teacher that was on the air when the radio was attacked: “People of Oaxaca, the government of Ulises Ruiz came through with his threat, a few days ago we had denounced that they had been threatening us. Today they attacked to silence us because we are telling the truth, we are carrying the voice of the people. I was on the air when we were interrupted by their attack. If today they were not able to silence us, the radio of the people by the gun they will not be able to do it. We are asking everybody to concentrate here while still keeping guard on our encampment in the center of the city. If there were teachers, community people, thinking of abandoning the struggle, with this assault Ulises Ruiz has to leave Oaxaca today more than ever. It is him or the people of Oaxaca. We were on the air, we had children and elders who came to accompany us, you don’t know the critical moment we just lived here with these children, women, and elders that were with us. We ask you to gather here to take actions and necessary mobilizations to get rid of Ulises Ruiz.”
A male voice: “We want to reach out to the compañeros nationally, the Coordinadora Nacional de los Trabajadores de la Educacion (the National Teachers’ Organization), in Durango, Puebla, of the sections 9, 10 and 11 of Mexico DF, Jalisco, to tell them that Ulises was not true to his word and once more tried in a stupid way to assault the people of Oaxaca, we repudiate his actions and attitude. We call the Oaxacan people to come and see what the murderous government has tried to implement here (the crowd can be heard chanting). We pass the microphone to the compas that were on the air when the attack happened:
Another male voice: “Three trucks full of paramilitaries, heavily armed, attacked Radio Universidad, our compañera had been on the air for about an hour accompanied by women, children and elders when they were attacked, they were shot at while they were on the air. Where is the Mexican military that allows these paramilitary groups to act with impunity. Jorge Blanco Vargas, Secretary General of Oaxaca, attacks once again with his paramilitary forces. Fox’s government is an accomplice of this assault, once more they tried to massacre us...Transmission interrupted.
Link to the actual transmission (radio.indymedia.org has been difficult to reach lately but try later if you can access the link right away, it is worth the extra effort)
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/10657.php
Artículos en español:
http://colectivozape.blogspot.comhttp://mexico.indymedia.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=140
INTERRUPTED TRANSMISSION:
Loud thuds, people screaming, phone busy signal, silence...voices trying to re-establish transmission. Transmission comes on, lots of background noise. A male voice: “To the people of Oaxaca: 50 heavily armed paramilitaries with machine guns, and pistols tried to take by force Radio Universidad, the people are congregating here to defend the radio. We are asking the people to come join the resistance, the people, university students the teachers. The attack was carried out by goons of –the Oaxacan Governor- Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. A teacher was on the air when the assault happened. Let’s denounce 3 trucks full of paramilitaries we’ll stay here until they are stopped, they have AKs, machine guns, military armament, we are telling you the truth because we know other media might not say the truth about what is happening here. They were repelled by the students, teachers and community. We call on all the media to come here to see what is happening.”
The teacher that was on the air when the radio was attacked: “People of Oaxaca, the government of Ulises Ruiz came through with his threat, a few days ago we had denounced that they had been threatening us. Today they attacked to silence us because we are telling the truth, we are carrying the voice of the people. I was on the air when we were interrupted by their attack. If today they were not able to silence us, the radio of the people by the gun they will not be able to do it. We are asking everybody to concentrate here while still keeping guard on our encampment in the center of the city. If there were teachers, community people, thinking of abandoning the struggle, with this assault Ulises Ruiz has to leave Oaxaca today more than ever. It is him or the people of Oaxaca. We were on the air, we had children and elders who came to accompany us, you don’t know the critical moment we just lived here with these children, women, and elders that were with us. We ask you to gather here to take actions and necessary mobilizations to get rid of Ulises Ruiz.”
A male voice: “We want to reach out to the compañeros nationally, the Coordinadora Nacional de los Trabajadores de la Educacion (the National Teachers’ Organization), in Durango, Puebla, of the sections 9, 10 and 11 of Mexico DF, Jalisco, to tell them that Ulises was not true to his word and once more tried in a stupid way to assault the people of Oaxaca, we repudiate his actions and attitude. We call the Oaxacan people to come and see what the murderous government has tried to implement here (the crowd can be heard chanting). We pass the microphone to the compas that were on the air when the attack happened:
Another male voice: “Three trucks full of paramilitaries, heavily armed, attacked Radio Universidad, our compañera had been on the air for about an hour accompanied by women, children and elders when they were attacked, they were shot at while they were on the air. Where is the Mexican military that allows these paramilitary groups to act with impunity. Jorge Blanco Vargas, Secretary General of Oaxaca, attacks once again with his paramilitary forces. Fox’s government is an accomplice of this assault, once more they tried to massacre us...Transmission interrupted.
Link to the actual transmission (radio.indymedia.org has been difficult to reach lately but try later if you can access the link right away, it is worth the extra effort)
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/10657.php
Artículos en español:
http://colectivozape.blogspot.comhttp://mexico.indymedia.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=140
posted by Ta Shunka Witko Brigade at 9:14 PM
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