Gunmen shot two people at a roadblock in Oaxaca City Oct. 14, killing one. The assailants fired at protesters at a street barricade in the predawn darkness, hitting one in the head and another in the arm, according to activists. The victim with the head wound died later in the hospital. The shooting began after strikers refused to let two apparently drunk men in a vehicle pass across an occupied street, according to the state government. (Reuters, Oct. 14) A report in La Jornada identified the victim as Alejandro Garcia Hernandez, and said the killers were military troops in civilian clothes. (La Jornada, Oct. 15) El Universal identified the attackers merel as "drunken men leaving a bar." (El Universal, Oct. 15) AP reported Oct. 15 that a soldier has been arrested in the incident, but blames the shooting on a "drunken argument." (AP, Oct. 15) Noticias de Oaxaca noted a similar incident of gunfire on protesters Oct. 12, saying the attackers were state police and "porros" (paid provocateurs). (Noticias de Oaxaca, Oct. 12)

Federal legislators from the ruling National Action Party (PAN) say they are determined to revive plans to build a mega-airport for Mexico City in Texcoco, despite the militant opposition of the farmers at the conflicted village of San Salvador Atenco, whose lands would be seized for the project.

Especially given the contested presidential elections and the seizure of popular power in Oaxaca—both potential threats to Mexico's ruling elites—it is ominous indeed to see the evident emergence of Colombia-style death squads linked to the drug trade and (we can assume) elements of the security forces. From Reuters, Oct. 8:

Mexican rebel leader Subcommander Marcos is remaking himself as a writer of political pulp fiction in collaboration with famed crime thriller scribe Paco Ignacio Taibo II. Interesting how a genre that generally plays to the law-and-order right in Gringolandia plays to the revolutionary left in Mexico, where the political elite is more overtly criminal. The new tome, The Uncomfortable Dead also has an all-too-plausibe theory about who the man really is in those relentless Osama bin Laden videos. Is this really political satire, or do Marcos and Taibo know something we don't? A book review by Patrick Anderson, "Marx Brothers Marxists," from the Washington Post, Oct. 2:

Revolution or Populist Theater?

by Dan La Botz, Mexican Labor News & Analysis

Two months after Mexico's contested July 2 presidential elections, the Federal Electoral Tribunal recognized Felipe Calderón as president-elect, while a massive National Democratic Convention has proclaimed Andrés Manuel López Obrador to be the "legitimate president of Mexico." He is now creating an alternative government, and says he will call a constituent assembly that will write a new constitution. What is happening here? Is this a radical fight for reforms? A potentially revolutionary movement? Or a spectacular piece of populist theater?

From CBC, Sept. 21:

A North American security meeting was secretly held in Banff last week, attracting high-profile officials from the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The Chiapas daily Estesur Sept. 24 noted a "bad weekend for Lopez Obrador," with PRD founder Cuauhtemoc Cardenas dissenting from his declaration as Mexico's "legitimate president," and a tough struggle looming for the PRD candidate in next month's Tabasco gubernatorial race. But this Sept. 22 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times should make him feel a little better—and certainly provides a challenge to those who would dismiss his claim as merely "spurious" (to use Lopez Obrador's favorite word for rival Felipe Calderon's victory).

Fox is a savvy one. We recently noted that the UN's Special Rapporteur for indigenous peoples has singled out his government for criticism. Yet he casts a vote for the Universal Declaration of Indigeous Peoples to win support from Mexico's ten million indigenous people. Talli Nauman writes for El Universal, Sept. 25:

As one worthwhile parting shot, lame duck President Vicente Fox went to New York this past week to vote Mexico’s support for the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Rights at the General Assembly meeting of more than 100 nations.