Teaching Comparative

Unrest and Stalemate in Mexico

John Jenkins asked about the Mexican Senate's inquiry into Ulises Ruiz (at left), governor of Oaxaca.

I mentioned the ongoing protests in Oaxaca a couple times here last summer:

• A Potential Turning Point (June 22)
  
• Teachers Union in Mexican politics (July 30)

John was asking about this report in the Los Angeles Times, "Senators Weigh Demand to Oust Oaxaca Governor"

"A Senate committee was meeting in Mexico City to discuss whether to send a bill to remove Gov. Ulises Ruiz on the grounds that he had lost control of his state."

John asked, "If the Senate is considering actually removing the governor, not on the grounds that he rigged the elections as the protestors claim, but because he has lost control of the state. What kind of precedent are we looking at, when any massive protest means to the Senate that the state government has lost its legitimacy?"

The LA Times article certainly doesn't offer much in the way of explanation.

The Wikipedia article on Governor Ruiz, if it can be believed, says that Ruiz is a PRI governor elected in 2004, but that opponents accused him of vote fraud in his victory.

Prensa Latina offers a little help to outsiders in understanding what's going on.

Mexican Tension in Senate and Oaxaca

"The Mexican Senate, with 69 of its 128 members present Thursday, began discussing the Senate Government Committee recommendation that, despite its recognized ungovernability of Oaxaca State, it would not declare a removal of power.

"The committee decision was immediately rejected by the parties of PRD (Revolucion Democratica), Convergencia and Verde Ecologista arguing, in the words of Convergencia, that the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers are in fact not functioning in Oaxaca.

"While they argued, a police buildup was evident outside the Legislature in anticipation of the imminent arrival of members of the Oaxaca APPO peoples assembly [Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, a coalition of civil and political organizations according to the Wikipedia article cited above] and section 22 [union local in U.S. parlance] of the teachers union who have been striking and protesting for 150 days for the removal of Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

"Flavio Sosa, an APPO leader, said they hoped for a positive decision from the Legislature because if not, there would be major social unrest, and announced new mobilizations in the capital, including demonstrations at PAN party headquarters (governing Accion Nacional) seen as preventing the ouster of Ruiz."

The Prensa Latina, Latin American News Agency, article suggests that the PRD and its allies in the Senate favored removing Ruiz. But by themselves they are a minority in the Senate where the PAN has 52 Senators, the PRI and its allies have 39 and the PNA has one. The PRD and its allies (the Alianza por el Bien de Todos or The Alliance for the Good of All) have only 36 Senators. That puts the situation in a national partisan context.


In a more regional context, Saturday's Washington Post reports that there's a split in the APPO.

Protesters, Teachers Part Ways in Oaxaca

"Radical protesters and teachers who have taken over the city of Oaxaca appeared to be parting ways on Friday after the teachers' leaders agreed to end a strike and return to work.

"Embattled Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz predicted that the protesters' barricades blocking highways and streets would be taken down within a week...

"Leftists who have taken over private radio stations in Oaxaca broadcast diatribes on Friday calling teachers' union leader Enrique Rueda "a traitor" and a "sellout," after Rueda said on Thursday that the strikers would return to work, even though they didn't achieve their main goal of removing Ruiz from power...

"Many leftists remain convinced the protests should continue, even though their last legal recourse -- the Senate -- voted on Thursday that there were no grounds to remove Ruiz from office...

"Protesters and teachers had vowed not to consider offers from government negotiators -- including wage raises for teachers, and federal control of the widely distrusted local police -- until Ruiz left office. They accuse him of using fraud to win his 2004 election and of sending armed thugs against protesters.

"Since late May, violence related to the strike has cost at least five lives. The federal government has been loath to intervene in the conflict, fearing more bloodshed.

"But pressure has been mounting for a rapid solution, because the dispute has scared off tourists and hurt businesses in the state, as well as keeping 1.3 million schoolchildren in Oaxaca out of classes."

With the apparent failure of the attempt to oust Ruiz, it seems that Section 22 of the teachers union is likely to focus more on local issues and on getting its members back to work.

None of that answers John's question about the precedent of considering protests that disrupt governance as the basis for removing an elected official. Now we're out of my league. I don't know anything about the Mexican constitution, law, or precedents for removing elected officials. That corresponds with my total ignorance of Spanish. In addition, my research is limited by resources and time. Now, if I had to guess, I'd say that politics dictates the result as much as law. If Ruiz represented a different party, the results of the Senate's action might have been different. (Then again, the protests might not have happened.)


One more thing. Oaxaca is a tourist destination. November through March is prime time for tourists from the north. If there's political upset, violence, and ongoing protests in the capital city, the tourist trade, local businesses, and local workers would suffer. Do the teachers and APPO want to take responsibility for that? Economics may also play a role in what may be a resolution.

All of that is a long way of saying, "Help."

John's question is a significant one. I'll add another that I can't answer, "Is Mexico, with the Oaxaca protests and the presidential election crisis, approaching political stalemate?"

Does anyone else have ideas? (Use the comment link below and help us out here.)

posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:26 AM