Owners of gas stations, hotels, supermarkets and other businesses in Oaxaca City were launching a two-day strike to pressure the government into sending federal police against leftist protesters who have besieged the town for over three months.
Local business leaders said more than 2,000 establishments would close their doors for 48 hours at the end of business on Wednesday, an announcement that triggered panic buying by residents who waited in long lines to stock up on food, gasoline and other supplies.
Oaxaca has been gripped by a protest movement that began with a teachers strike and has evolved into a broader movement demanding the resignation of Oaxaca state Governor Ulises Ruiz. The protesters have set up barricades, burned buses and clashed with local police and movement opponents.
Aside from mediation by federal officials, Mexican President Vicente Fox's government has not intervened in Oaxaca.
no help
"President Vicente Fox has done nothing to help us," Fredy Alcantara, president of the Oaxaca hotel association, told reporters. "He doesn't support us and the situation is very delicate."
On Wednesday, Deputy Interior Secretary Arturo Chavez said the federal government was trying to solve the problem through negotiations, but that use of force was being considered as a "last resort."
The US Embassy in Mexico has warned US citizens traveling to Oaxaca and many have steered clear of the picturesque city, known for its colonial architecture and nearby pre-Hispanic ruins. Local business associations have estimated the protests have cost the city more than US$300 million in lost earnings.
The protesters, a mix of trade unionists, leftists, anarchists and students, accuse Ruiz of rigging his 2004 election and violently repressing dissent. The movement gained force in June, when police attacked a demonstration of striking teachers demanding a wage increase.
strike vote
On Wednesday, the Oaxaca teachers' union voted to continue their strike and support of the protests until Ruiz resigns.
Also on Wednesday, thousands of protesters in the city center reinforced barricades made of tires and corrugated iron and piled up dozens of Molotov cocktails, apparently anticipating some sort of police action.
The protesters have occupied government buildings and taken over radio and TV stations, using them to broadcast calls for rebellion.
Two people have been killed and dozens more injured in clashes between the protesters and police or armed gangs.
Ruiz has repeatedly called on the Fox administration to send in federal police to restore order.
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