In Oaxaca, Mexico, "accountability moments" are extremely scarce. In fact, for Governor Ulises Ruiz the moment may never come, and questions about police repression, killings, detentions and disappearances during the past year may never be answered.
As if Oaxaca had not suffered enought, on Wednesday, a small bomb exploded outside a Sears store in Oaxaca. The WaPo reported:
A small, homemade bomb exploded outside a Sears store in the troubled southern city of Oaxaca early Wednesday, damaging the entrance but causing no injuries, authorities reported.
A similar bomb was found and deactivated outside the entrance of a nearby bank, state Attorney General Evencio Martinez told national radio station W Radio.
"I believe it could be (the work of) local groups, given the type and style of device," Martinez said.
He denied the bombs were related to the People's Revolutionary Army, a small leftist group that bombed gas pipelines in July.
Join me across the wide Rio Grande.
Of course, the Oaxaca state police are investigating the blast. Of course.
There are always "investigations" of events like this. More problematic is whether any conclusion will ever be reached. You need only briefly to review events of the past year in Oaxaca to believe that no serious investigation will be conducted and that no credible conclusion will ever be forthcoming. Investigation of the bombing will likely falter just as a claimed investigation into the past year's repression, including and the murder of US journalist Brad Will and 17 others has stalled.
Let's review very briefly. According to WaPo:
Oaxaca has suffered more than a year of political unrest, and on Tuesday, Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan urged Mexican federal officials to investigate alleged police abuse against demonstrators.
Khan presented a report describing the unsolved killings of 18 people, arbitrary detentions and other abuses during last year's Oaxaca protests.
"The federal government cannot avoid its responsibility to guarantee the protection of human rights in the state of Oaxaca," Khan said.
The conflict began in May 2006 as a strike by teachers seeking higher pay and quickly grew into a broader movement known as the People's Assembly of Oaxaca, or APPO. It included Indian groups, students, farmers and leftists who claim Gov. Ulises Ruiz rigged his electoral victory and has repressed opponents.
[Governor Ulises] Ruiz, who met with Khan on Tuesday, rejected the report.
"We told them that we believe those who wrote it are advisers for the APPO," Ruiz said after the meeting.
I guess that settles that as far as Ruiz is concerned. He rejected the report because Amnesty's report, he claims, was written by APPO advisers. That seems unlikely, but what part of Ruiz's statement is not understood? As long as he is in charge there will be no acceptance of this report or of its recommendations.
You may recall from this diary and this diary that US Journalist Brad Will was killed in Oaxaca during the strife in October, 2006, that paralyzed Oaxaca for 6 months, and that in March, 2007, his parents went to Oaxaca to spur an investigation of his death. Did this visit accomplish anything? In a word, no. There have been no arrests in this murder, no charges, and no credible, official report of what occurred.
Amnesty International finds the situation appalling.
"The meeting with the state authorities was disappointing," Ms Khan said.
"The Governor and his colleagues refuse to recognise that serious human rights violations have taken place. One year down the road they appear not to have drawn any lessons from the prolonged crisis to improve the protection of human rights. Although they claimed to have opened investigations, they could not provide any tangible proof of progress in bringing to justice those responsible for criminal offences in the context of the protests or human rights violations."
"The state and federal authorities must ensure prompt and impartial investigations into the allegations of police brutality, torture, arbitrary arrest and harassment as well as unlawful killings."
"Given the palpable failure of the state government to properly investigate abuses, ending impunity in Oaxaca would be a clear demonstration to Mexican society and to the international community that the government of President Felipe Calderón is committed to protecting, ensuring and fulfilling human rights."
And so, a year after these deaths, and despite the efforts of Amnesty and others, Ulises Ruiz remains in power. And "impunity" remains the order of the day.
After meeting with Ruiz, Khan met with federal officials.
At Khan’s meetings this Thursday and Friday with Ministers of the Interior, Francisco Ramírez, of Public Security, Genaro García, and of Foreign Relations, Patricia Espinosa, "the Mexican government will authenticate its full commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Mexicans," the Foreign Ministry said in a communiqué.
Does anyone really believe this, that somehow despite Ruiz's refusal to act the federal government will vindicate human rights in Oaxaca?