Approximately 30 armed men in civilian clothes, some with their faces covered, attacked the central camp of the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) in the state capital at dawn on Nov. 21. The camp, outside the cathedral of Santo Domingo de Guzman, just three blocks from the Federal Preventative Police (PFP) police camp in the city’s central square, was set on fire and the residents forced to flee. (La Jornada, Nov. 21) An APPO statement accused the attackers of being “sicarios [assassins] financed by the state government, dressed as civilians and with high-powered weapons.” (APRO, Nov. 21)
Two days later, APPO representives met in private for three hours with the Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Bertello, to discuss the situation in Oaxaca and the possibility that the Pope could be called in to mediate.(La Jornada, Nov. 23)
Sources archived at Chiapas95
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