Threats and Gunfire in Oaxaca; Enzinna: New Steps in Bolivia's Agrarian Reform

August 9, 2006
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Dear Colleague,

Don't miss the latest commentary from Nancy Davies in Oaxaca, where
the revolutionary, teacher-led social movement continues to fight
against government repression and for popular control of the state.
Davies writes:

"On Monday morning a red alert was broadcast. Both the teachers'
station, Radio Plantón using 96.8 FM, and the students' station Radio
Universidad 1400 AM went on the air to broadcast the alarm.

"The previous night, August 6, about 300 Federal Preventative Police
(PFP) arrived in Oaxaca. Monday at 10:00 AM an attack by about thirty
police who arrived in five pickup cars, some in civilian clothes and
some wearing ski masks, took place in the Colonia Reforma
neighborhood, where APPO people were blocking the office of the
Department of Finance.

"Radio Universidad reported as shots were fired and tear gas was
used. After the APPO people fought back with stones and sticks the
police were repelled, leaving several APPO members injured by blows
but only one woman by gunfire, in the leg. This woman may have been
hit by the Coordinator of Public Security, Aristeo López Martinez,
the Oaxaca head of special police operations, who was using an AR-15
rifle, according to La Jornada. The newspaper reported that when the
APPO men gave chase, López Martinez began to shoot for the body, not
in the air. The pursuers hit the ground, and all the police escaped,
López Martinez on a black BMW motorcycle.

"The wounded woman later went to the radio station to speak, so I
assume she was not badly hurt. In the attack three municipal
policemen were wounded in the head by stones and a teacher was
injured on his spine by a sharp blow.

"It is not legal for police to be dressed in plain clothes, nor for
them to be arriving in private cars, nor for them to attack a
peaceful civil protest.

"And that was just the morning."

See Narco News' special page on Oaxaca for the full story:

http://www.narconews.com/otroperiodismo/oaxaca/en.html

Also new in the Narco News Bulletin this week, journalist Wes Enzinna
reports from Bolivia on the ongoing land reform being enacted by the
Evo Morales administration. Enzinna writes:

"The reform officially began on May 2 of this year with the issuing
of seven decrees. As Evo explained to the crowd on August 2, 'the
goal of this agrarian revolution is to break up oligarchic land
holdings and distribute and redistribute land to those who need it.'
This sentiment is legally codified in the first of the May 2 decrees.
This decree (28733) states that the goal of reform is 'the
distribution of lands exclusively to peasants and indigenous
communities without land or who possess insufficient lands.'

"There are approximately 2.5 million farmers currently in Bolivia who
meet these criteria, out of a population of 8 million. On the other
extreme, it is estimated that 400 individuals own 70 percent of the
nation's productive properties.

"Since May 2, Morales has used the decrees-which also, among other
things, prioritize land ownership for peasant women and outline the
process by which lands may be expropriated-as a legal springboard
from which to alter Bolivia's lop-sided ratio of land ownership. To
date, 3.8 million hectares (9 million acres) of land have been given
to sixty indigenous communities, and 2.2 million hectares (5.5
million acres) have been recovered by the State in preparation for
the re-distribution process. Over the next five years, the
administration promises to award 20 million hectares (49 million
acres), a fifth of the nation's total land area, to land-starved
farmers."

Read the full story online, here:

http://www.narconews.com/

Also, don't forget to keep watching the Narco News front page for the
latest news and links on Mexico's post-electoral crisis and the
massive popular rejection of the official voting results.

http://www.narconews.com

From somewhere in a country called América,

Dan Feder
Managing Editor
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com
dan [at] narconews.com

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