Protesters in Oaxaca are batting down the hatches by reinforcing barricades and preparing themselves for the worst as the past week of terror has left one teacher dead.

City and state police agents, dressed in black wearing masks, traveled throughout the city early Tuesday morning in a caravan of motorcycles and pick-up trucks. The convoy of 34 vehicles joined up at about twenty minutes after midnight Tuesday morning and opened fire on security watchposts from their moving vehicles. As the caravan passed the station of the recently taken radio La Ley 710, teacher Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes received bullet wounds to the back. He was taken to the hospital and later died.

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Indymedia Oaxaca

The operation was described by a state governor Ulises Ruiz as a “cleaning of the roads.” He did not mention the death of the teacher. The police intercepted a vehicle occupied by two members of the magisterial police, doused it with gasoline and set it aflame. The two occupants were able to escape and suffered first degree burns.

As the people of Oaxaca were alerted via radio to the aggressions occurring in the city, hundreds of people filled the streets to offer back-up and to detain the aggressors. Radio stations occupied by members of APPO urgently called to the citizenry not to sleep and join their comrades at the barricades and encampments. On two occasions, police vehicles were surrounded by townspeople and the occupants were forced to flee, shooting as they ran. Cartridges of 380 and 9 mm calibre from AR-15 assault rifles were collected as evidence of the police violence.

Seven vehicles, two of them municipal buses, were burned in different parts of the city by unknown people. Barricades, 500 of which exist in the city, that protect the encampments of the teachers and the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) were reinforced with more security.

Flavio Sosa Villavicencio, a member of APPO´s coordination committee, repudiated the state´s claims of a fight against terrorism. He called the state the terrorist. He also confirmed that APPO, along with the teacher`s union, received an invitation from the federal secretary of state to join a dialogue of negotiation with Samuel Ruiz, bishop emeritus from San Cristobal de las Casas, other federal representatives and citizens and Ulises Ruiz. The APPO would have decided in a meeting Tuesday night on whether or not to participate.

The week began with armed attacks Monday morning on the antenna of Channel 9, which had been taken over by women from APPO at the beginning of August. As the antenna was rendered useless, protesters from APPO took over 12 radio stations in the city.

Urgent take action: Organize a protest at your local Mexican consulate or contact the below responsible individuals and let them know the whole world is watching: Ulises Ruiz Gobernador del Estado de Oaxaca.: gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx Jorge Franco Vargas: Secretario de Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca: Tel. (951)5153175, 5157490: sriagral@oaxaca.gob.mx, sriagral2@oaxaca.gob.mx Jaime Mario Pérez Jiménez, Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos de Oaxaca, quejas@cedhoax.org Tel. 044 951 104 43 06 o envÃe un mensaje al: 512 90 20 clave 956, Fax: (951) 5135185, 5135191, 5135197, correo@cedhoax.org Presidente: Vicente Fox Quesada email: vicente.fox.quesada@presidencia.gob.mx radio@presidencia.gob.mx webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx Telefonos (55) 50911100 y (55)151794 Secretario de gobernación: Carlos Abascal Carranza. Teléfono (00 52) 5 55 546 Email segob@rtn.net.mx Procurador General de la República: Cabeza de Vaca. Telefono (00 53) 4 60 904 Email: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx