What in the world is going on in Oaxaca? This beautiful tourist destination in southern Mexico, long known for its splendid architecture and nearby archaeological ruins, is now marked by civil unrest that threatens to tear the place apart.
The trouble started in May when a coalition of striking teachers, leftist activists and Indian groups staged public demonstrations and set up barricades while demanding that the governor of the state of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz, step down. The demonstrators insist that Ruiz is a corrupt strongman who has used thugs to cripple dissent and maintain power. Ruiz has defiantly refused to budge. And when the Mexican Congress got into the act recently by demanding that Ruiz resign, the governor in turn lashed out at the Council of Deputies, telling it, in essence, to mind its own business and saying that its demand “violates Oaxaca's sovereignty.”
And yet, despite all of this, President Vicente Fox rather optimistically has pledged to put an end to the chaos before President-elect Felipe Calderón is sworn in on Dec. 1. Fox has sent in federal troops to help quell the violence. It's a safe bet this was no easy decision, given the long-standing reluctance of Mexican presidents to send the army into situations such as this lest they repeat the ugliness that occurred a generation ago when Mexican troops clashed with and ultimately crushed student protesters.
Fox did the right thing, though he may also have taken a bad situation and made it worse. There are no good options in Oaxaca, only high stakes and hard choices.
It would be terribly unfair for Calderón to inherit this mess in addition to everything else he faces as he takes office. Americans want the new president of Mexico to dedicate his attention to weightier matters – from improving economic prospects so that Mexicans no longer emigrate northward to battling corruption in government, especially law enforcement.
Fixing what went wrong in Oaxaca is Fox's responsibility alone. This may include using more force or removing Ruiz from power until the charges against him can be investigated. It's Fox's call, and one only wishes he had made it much earlier and had acted much more decisively. The president has a tendency to avoid conflict and wait around for problems to solve themselves, and obviously that hasn't happened here.
The hour is late, and the situation on the ground is getting more tense and more desperate by the day. The last thing we need in Oaxaca is more violence. There will come a point of no return. After that, it won't matter much what Fox does or what Calderón does. Civil unrest will rage out of control. The casualties will mount. And Oaxaca will be lost.
