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.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
MIGRATION: The Supreme Court justices said they were not deciding whether Trump could legally use the Alien Enemies Act to deport undocumented migrants US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at the US Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are “not allowing me to do what I was elected to do.” Trump’s berating of the high court, in a post on Truth Social, came after it dealt another setback to his attempt to swiftly expel alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members using an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Trump has been at loggerheads with the judiciary ever since he returned to the White House, venting
RSS