A protester was shot dead when assailants fired on a march of about 8,000 people calling for the governor's resignation in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
The killing on Thursday came after months of escalating political violence in the historic state capital, Oaxaca city.
The 50-year-old protester, identified as Jose Jimenez, was taken to a hospital with bullet wounds and pronounced dead on arrival, according to his wife Clara Jimenez, who was at the hospital sobbing.
Clara said the bullets appeared to come from a house that the marchers passed. After the shooting protesters set fire to the house, a blaze that firefighters later put out.
Protesters also captured four men who they believe carried out the shooting, said Daniel Rosas, a spokesman for the leftist Oaxaca People's Assembly, which organized the march.
Rosas said the men would be presented to media later. In recent weeks, the protesters have captured several men they accuse of attacks and have later handed them over to federal investigators.
Rosas accused Governor Ulises Ruiz of being behind the shooting. Officials in Ruiz's office denied the charge and condemned the killing.
The assembly is demanding the resignation of Ruiz, whom they accuse of using force to repress dissent and of rigging the 2004 election to win office.
Sustained protests descended on Oaxaca in June after police attacked a demonstration of striking teachers demanding a wage increase.
More than 2,000 protesters have camped out in the city center, building barricades, smashing windows and stealing government vehicles. Armed assailants have shot at a radio station and a newspaper that support the protests, injuring one reporter.
Meanwhile, police are nowhere to be seen in the city center.
On Wednesday, two men and a 12-year-old boy headed to join the protest camps in Oaxaca city were shot dead on a road about 250km from Oaxaca, but it is unclear if that killing was connected to the protests.
The confrontations have driven many tourists out of Oaxaca city, which is popular with international tourists for its cobbled streets, markets and cuisine.
Business groups say the conflict has caused losses of more than US$50 million.
Ruiz is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years until President Vicente Fox's election in 2000.
Late Thursday, the PRI released a statement in support of Ruiz.
"The situation that is surging in the state is very worrying because it has the risk of spreading," the party said. "It is an explosive cocktail."
On Sunday, Ruiz asked the federal government to send in federal paramilitary police to restore order.
Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal said that federal troops would not be sent in as he believed the problem could be resolved through negotiations.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS