Greens Urge Support for People of Oaxaca Under Attack

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org 
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org 

Greens call for support for the people of Oaxaca, Mexico, under attack by government forces

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders and candidates expressed support for the people of Oaxaca, striking teachers, and all Mexicans who are under brutal attack by Mexico's federal police, army, and paramilitary forces in response to protests and rallies for democracy, economic reforms, and the resignation of Governor Ulises Ruíz Ortíz.

"We call on the Bush Administration to put pressure on the Fox government to call off the occupation of Oaxaca and respect the right of people to protest peacefully," said Julia Willebrand, Green candidate for State Comptroller of New York and co-chair of the Green Party's International Committee. "We call on all Americans to support the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca's [APPO] efforts to draft a new state constitution that will ensure grassroots democracy, fair elections, respect for diversity, and an end to neo-liberal policies that favor big business interests over the rights and needs of the Mexican people."

Greens noted that the protests in Oaxaca were in part motivated by anger over charges of massive election fraud after Felipe Calderón's victory was upheld by the conservative Federal Electoral Commission.

"The response of the teachers union and thousands of ordinary Oaxaqueños to evidence of a stolen election was heroic," said Kathleen Culver, Green candidate for Congress in Tennessee's 7th District <http://www.kate4congress.com>. "In the U.S., few Americans protested in 2000 and 2004 when evidence emerged that Republican officials had obstructed voters and manipulated the presidential elections in Florida, Ohio, and other states. The acquiescence of so many Americans made it easy for the Bush Administration, with bipartisan support in Congress, to launch an assault on democracy and freedom."

The Green Party has called for repeal of NAFTA and other international trade agreements that were ratified in the U.S. with bipartisan support, and which have caused widespread economic distress and desperation in Mexico, as well as lost jobs, depressed wages, and eroded environmental and labor protections in the U.S. for the benefit of corporate profits.

The Green Party has long opposed the Bush Administration's attempts at insuring American corporate entry into foreign markets at the expense of the citizens of those nations. With the support of elite international trade groups and the acquiescence of the Democratic Party, neo-liberal U.S. trade policies such as NAFTA and GATT have caused widespread economic distress and desperation in Mexico and other countries, and have contributed to lost jobs, depressed wages, a degraded environment, and eroded labor protections for Americans. Green candidates around the country are running against the two corporate parties to oppose these misguided policies and insure economic justice for Americans and our trade partners.

"The Green Party mourns for and pays its respects to all those who've been killed and injured by the federal police and other pro-government forces," said Julia Willebrand, who noted that U.S. independent reporter Brad Will was gunned down on Friday, October 27, along with local school teachers Pánfilo Hernández and Esteban López Zurita, and over a dozen others who were killed in Oaxaca last week.

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