{news} GP RELEASE Greens urge support for people of Oaxaca under attack

[Justine McCabe]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, November 2, 2006

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


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Green campaign listings, news, photos, and web sites
http://www.gp.org/2006elections
Database of 2006 Green candidates
http://www.greens.org/elections
Video clips of Green candidates
http://www.gp.org/2006elections/media.shtml
Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

The Narco News: Reporting on the Drug War and
Democracy from Latin America
http://www.narconews.com


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