On October 27, 2006 Indymedia journalist and videoblogger Brad Will was the killed while covering the teacher’s strike in Oaxaca. He was known to have supported the protesters and their cause New York City Independent Media Center reported that Will was shot Friday in the stomach while he was documenting the assault on the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) at the barricade by armed paramilitary forces. He died on his way to the hospital.
shooting occurred today in Oaxaca City, Mexico, leaving New York City Indymedia journalist Bradley Will dead after being shot in the chest by paramilitaries. He died before reaching the hospital, according to La Jornada.
Milenio Diario reported that one of their photographers, Oswaldo Ramírez, who was standing near Will, was also shot and injured. Oaxaca’s state prosecutor’s office officially reported that there were two others, including a protesting teacher, were shot to death and several people were wounded during the shootings.
Illustration: D.R. Latuff
Reporting for Narco News, Diego Enrique Osorno reported that the Mayor of Santa Lucia, Jaime Martínez Feria, confirmed that the armed men who were dressed in civilian clothes were “police acting in legitimate defense against the threat of an occupation of City Hall.” According to Osorno, the murders were a coordinated by armed individuals reportedly working for the state political parties, calling themselves “neighbors.” Although it has been reported in the US media that the identified murderers were from the local police, what is being excluded is who is behind the assaults. El Universal recently revealed who took part in the murder of Brad will. According to El Universal, those involved in the murder of Brad Will were the chief of police (Seguridad Publica) of Santa Lucia del Camino, Avel Santiago Zárate, the chief of personnel of the PRI affiliated City Council, Manuel Aguilar, and a local elected Delegate of the PRI, David Aguilar Robles.
Before the slaying of Will, John Dickie, a British filmmaker based in Oaxaca, reported that he had heard an anonymous person on Oaxaca’s clandestine radio station, Citizen’s Radio (Radio Ciudadania: 99.1 FM), tell their listeners that Brad “was an armed terrorist, and there is more to this than meets the eye” and “Indymedia is a branch of the APPO.” As to why the government would make such a claim.
This is a critical time for President Vicente Fox as he has one month left in office before he turns it over to his successor Felipe Calderon. It is nor hard to connect some dots as what has transpired over the weekend. For those who have not been following the situation in Oaxaca, the two significant events that have took place in the past few days. The first was the killing of Brad Will and the two innocent souls. The other, over the weekend thousands of police armed with automatic rifles, riot shields, tear gas, armored vehicles, and helicopters invaded Oaxaca and pushed back protesters through sheer force.
After the violent take over of Oaxaca, La Jornada reported there were three casualties, Jorge Alberto López, Fidel García, and an unidentified 14-year-old.
It is interesting, that after five months of complete apathy, Fox finally decided to act to “restore peace.” Did Fox finally find his excuse to in federal police? The situation that is currently taking place is very reminiscent of an event that happened over ten years ago.
Back in 1994, when the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) launched its campaign to fight for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas, the Mexican government had utilized an array of tactics to discredit the movement in the press, to torture, rape, imprisonment and outright murder. In Feb 1995, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo deployed 70,000 troops into the jungles of Chiapas also to restore government control, what was widely known as “low intensity warfare.”
Narco News has published Will’s final moments captured on his camera.