President Fox Sends Troops to Oaxaca

(Oaxaca, Mexico) As reported previously, leftist protesters have been in a near-riot mode against the Oaxaca state government for several months and, on Friday, violence caused the death of an Indymedia reporter, Bradley Roland Will of New York City. As a result, Mexican President Vicente Fox decided to send in federal troops.

From ElPasoTimes.com:

Federal police with assault rifles and riot-shields advanced into Oaxaca on Sunday, bypassing or extinguishing barricades of burning tires and tree trunks in this normally picturesque tourist destination wracked by five months of protests and violence.

Officers in bulky black helmets lined a highway just shy of a sign reading "Welcome to Oaxaca" and used fire extinguishers to douse flames at a roadblock abandoned by retreating demonstrators.

Flanked by armored vehicles, water-cannon and bulldozers and with helicopters roaring overhead, they faced a knot of protesters who yelled insults and readied piles of stones to hurl. Some protesters used syringes to pierce their arms and legs, then paint signs decrying the police in blood.

Interesting. While the leftists were painting signs in blood and vamoosing, "some residents emerged from their homes cheering and waving white flags" as police marched by. It seems that the citizens of Oaxaca don't necessarily support the leftist rioters.

Regarding the investigation of the death of Bradley Will,

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said those who shot Will may have been Oaxaca police and Mayor Manuel Martinez Feria of Santa Lucia del Camino said five men seen brandishing pistols at the time of the shooting had been turned over to authorities. He identified them as two members of Santa Lucia's city council, two of that town's police officers and a former justice of the peace from another town.

In all candor, that seems like a most unlikely handful of people to be in the streets allegedly brandishing pistols. Maybe they were simply acting as responsible citizens trying to protect their property.

Nonetheless, we'll have to wait for the completion of the investigation to know what actually happened and, with the U.S. Ambassador taking an interest, I imagine the Mexican authorities will put forth a prudent effort to find the killer of Bradley Will.