APPO Reports Two Dead in Confrontations with Federal Police in Oaxaca

The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) reports that two civilians died in confrontations today with the Federal Preventive Police: Social Security Institute worker Roberto López Hernández and nurse and APPO safety commission member Jorge Alberto Beltrán. There are also reports coming in to Narco News from various sources that police are raiding the specific homes of APPO leaders. Whether these are federal or state police is not clear.

Around 6 p.m. this evening, the signal of Radio Universidad, the main medium of communication for the APPO in these days of chaos, was cut. It remains off the air. This happened just as the Federal Preventive Police entered the campus of the Oaxaca state university, where the station’s facilities are located. Since then, reports have been harder to come by, but a caller into Radio Bemba (of the northern city of Hermosillo) reported that the station’s power had been cut and the entire facility occupied by officers of the Federal Preventive Police. As of 10 p.m., however, this has still not been confirmed. If true, it represents a major attack on freedom of the press by the Mexican state, just two days after the murder of journalist Brad Will and the shooting of photojournalist Oswaldo Ramirez in Oaxaca City.