| 1930 - 1960 | This time period (post-1931) was one of relative peace for Zapotecs. Rapid development occurred in Oaxaca and the Southeastern section of Mexico, including the Pan American Highway, located near Juchitan. Economic growth led to a wealthy Zapotec class. Hospitals and schools were built. However, the majority of Zapotecs remained peasants and in poverty. |
| 1960 - 1979 | There were 2 major development projects during this time period - The Benito Juarez Dam and the oil refinery in Salina Cruz. Land prices rose and land was privatized at this point. Thus, many Zapotecs lost their communal and traditional land. A division also grew between wealthy Zapotecs and peasant Zapotecs which later lessened due to unification under COCEI. |
| 1964 | Zapotec leader, Facundo Genico, was murdered by Tehuantepec police. He was the first to try to organize the Zapotecs after their charismatic leader, Charis had died in the same year. |
| 1965 | A reform movement within the PRI led to the campaign of Carlos Madrazo in Oaxaca. Primary elections within the PRI in the Juchitan caused a ballot burning protest. Madrazo was a reform-minded PRI member, supportive of indigenous issues. However, he died in 1965 in an airplane crash. |
| 1970 - 1973 | Manuel Musalem (known as Taru) became the Zapotec leader. He ran for the 1971 municipal elections of Juchitan. He united the wealthy Zapotecs and the poor, peasant Zapotecs because he was the son of a wealthy Lebanese business man and a poor Zapotec woman, who spoke both Spanish and Zapotec languages. Taru became head of the Juchitan government after negotiations with the PRI and the Mexican government. |
| 1971 | COCEI formed under the leadership of Lopez Nelio and Sanchez, who also headed the agricultural program of Oaxaca. |
| 1973 | Zapotec students took over the clinic in protest of its discrimination against Zapotecs. |
| 1973 - 1975 | Various protests and collective action occurred: freeing political prisoners; securing wage increases for Zapotec workers; and forcing the rehiring of workers fired due to discrimination against indigenous peoples. |
| 1974 | Election fraud protests occurred. The Zapotecs were organized by the COCEI for these protests and demonstrations. Also, Zapotecs protested the government takeover of traditional Zapotec land (this land is named Alvero Obregon). After COCEI demonstrations and pressure, the Zapotecs here awarded 1,000 ha of land. |
| 1975 - 1977 | The Credit Bank of Mexico tried to takeover the cattle ranch land of Zapotecs. They were awarded 250 ha of cattle ranch from the government. At this time, the COCEI organized credit groups of Zapotecs in order to obtain credit for local control of agricultural land and business. The Zapotecs gained control of the local communal land board at this time as well. |
| 1976 | Three of the principal Zapotec leaders were murdered by police: Sanchez, Lopez Nelio, and Cesar Pineda. |
| 1977 | Seven COCEI Zapotec peasants and one student leader were murdered by police and 20 people were injured in a demonstration. Later this year, 37 students were fired upon during a protest, killing three men and two children. In March 1977, the police took control of the City Hall and stationed troops in Oaxaca, particularly in Juchitan. This violence increased the size of the COCEI as well as increased the violence of their protests and demonstrations. |
| 1978 | Zapotecs under the direction of the COCEI protested the inauguration of a PRI governor in Oaxaca. The police and military fired upon the protestors, killing one and wounding many. After this event, the Zapotecs went on a rampage and looted all stores and property not owned by Zapotecs. After the protest and looting, the COCEI and Zapotec tribal leaders established a parallel government in Oaxaca. Until 1980, the Zapotecs were raided by police and also held a series of protests for the release of their leaders from jails and for the random killings of its members. |
| 1981 | The COCEI won municipal elections through negotiations with the PRI in a coalition government. This election was highly publicized in Mexico and was supported by other indigenous groups aside from the Zapotecs. Zapotec workers at Coca Cola won a substantial settlement after 25 were fired. |
| 1983 | Zapotec workers went on strike against beer distributors for better wages. The Mexican government sent police to break the strike and force people to go back to work. |
| 1983 | The COCEI were removed from office by the Mexican government and replaced by PRI officials. The COCEI were militarily repressed as a formal government policy. On July 31, 1983, the COCEI ended the election campaign with a rally and parade in the streets, which the police tried to break up. This escalated into a fight in the streets and gunfire was exchanged. Two were killed and over 20 wounded. The national media reported accounts of this event and kept the COCEI in the media thereafter. |
| Aug 3, 1983 | The Zapotecs challenged the government decree and stormed City Hall and occupied it. The PRI sent an interim mayor who was forced to take residence in a protected area. |
| Nov 1983 | The PRI won the November election through fraud and gerrymandering in the state of Oaxaca. The COCEI staged a 15 day hunger strike in front of the National Palace in Mexico to protest the fraudulent elections. |
| Dec 13, 1983 | The police stormed City Hall and 86 COCEI supporters were tortured and killed. Three thousand female members of COCEI attacked the police and the police responded with gunfire. In the following months, COCEI members were tortured jailed, and their houses were raided (Amnesty International 1986: 19-22). |
| 1984 | The PRI implemented public works projects in Oaxaca, including hospitals, educational facilities, and sewage systems. |
| Apr 1984 | COCEI received a large settlement for 400 Zapotec and Huave fishermen whose livelihoods were threatened by PEMEX oil spill in the Isthmus lagoons. The COCEI was also the primary negotiator for agrarian and land disputes for the Zapotecs. |
| 1986 | A bipartisan government was formed in Juchitan between the COCEI and the PRI. |
| 1986 - 1987 | The Zapotecs won strikes with two beer distributors and a bus company. They also received credit and crop insurance settlements for peasants. The COCEI also expanded its support to other indigenous groups, including Mixe, Chontal, and other Zapotecs in highland areas. |
| 1986 - 1989 | The PRI mayor of Juchitan was Felipe Martinez Lopez. However, during this time period the Zapotec language was being used more frequently in formal Oaxaca government relations due to the mobilization of the Zapotecs against the PRI. |
| 1987 | The COCEI Zapotec leaders met with President de la Madrid to represent their people to the national government. They also hosted rallies for Cuauthemoc Cardenas. These rallies attracted over 20,000 people. |
| 1989 | The 1989 mayoral rally in Oaxaca drew crowds of over 10,000 people protesting the PRI. The COCEI won the Juchitan municipal election. |
| Dec 27, 1991 | The COCEI changed its focus and started to speak in Spanish as opposed to indigenous Zapotec language at the municipal rally. |
| Jul 14, 1992 | The PRI (the ruling party of Mexico) conceded to an election loss in the state of Chihuahua, its largest and wealthiest state. The winner of the election was Francisco Barrion of the center-right National Action Party (PAN). Also in this election, the state of Michoacan opposition party (PRD) claimed election fraud by the PRI. The population of both states is approximately 5% indigenous, which largely support opposition parties to the PRI. |
| Aug 9, 1992 | Mexico City hosted peace talks between the Guatemalan rebels and the government. Mexico stressed the importance of human rights in Guatemala toward its indigenous population. |
| Aug 30, 1992 | President Salinas traveled to Oaxaca to implement grass-roots development program in Oaxaca. The program is called Solidarity and was allotted $2.3 billion in 1992. It was founded in 1989 with the purpose of funding infrastructure and industry programs in primarily indigenous states of Southeastern Mexico. |
| Sep 21 - Dec 20, 1992 | The COCEI won the municipal elections in Juchitan. |
| Jan 14, 1993 | Jorge Carpizo MacGregor was appointed Attorney General. He was previously Mexico's human rights ombudsman. NGOs and the UN supported this appointment. |
| 1994 | The COCEI backed the PAN presidential candidate, Cardenas, for the elections. They held rallies in his honor. |
| Jan 21, 1994 | President Carlos Salinas appointed a commission to study and promote coordinated action to improve the life of Indians in Mexico. The commission will encompass officials from 11 Cabinet ministries. |
| Feb 7, 1994 | Indian peasants (including Zapotecs) blocked the Pan-American highway leading into Teopisca, a town about 30 miles south of San Cristobal de las Casas, protesting corruption. They were not affiliated with the Zapatistas, yet said the Chiapas "opened their eyes." |
| Dec 20, 1994 | A severe economic crisis began in Mexico with the devaluation of the peso. Interest rates and inflation skyrocketed, businesses closed, and banks foreclosed on houses and farms. The Clinton administration put together a $50 billion package to help Mexico bail itself out of the crisis, but the package was relatively ineffective in terms of benefiting many Mexicans. A protest movement called Barzon, which was formed in 1983 and consists of middle-class Mexicans (who comprise approximately 10 percent of the Mexican population), gained popularity as a result of the crisis. The Barzon claimed 500,000 members as of February 1995, but independent analysts claimed that the movement's following was much smaller. Barzon clubs were also formed among Mexican immigrants in Texas and California. The movement calls for political democracy, economic equality, the rescheduling of debt payments to Mexico's banks, and the altering of government policies that movement followers claim hurt Mexican farmers. (The Houston Chronicle, Feb. 26, 1995) |
| 1995 | The Zapotecs organized by COCEI still control the Juchitan government and support leftist politics in the state of Oaxaca. However, the COCEI are currently being criticized for rising to political power and forgetting the needs of the Zapotec peasants. |
| Feb 13, 1995 | PRI suffered the biggest election defeat in its 65-year history by losing control of the state of Jalisco and its capital, Guadalajara, to the center-right National Action Party in a landslide vote. According to polls and incomplete official returns, the National Action Party took the statehouse, the city hall in Guadalajara (Mexico's second largest city), and nearly all of Guadalajara=s other main city governments. |
| Feb 19 - 25, 1995 | Members of the middle-class Barzon movement shut down banks in three Mexican states and staged a protest outside the headquarters of the government's central bank in Mexico City. One of Mexico's leading business groups, the Business Coordinating Council, also announced that at least 250,000 jobs had been lost in Mexico since the economic crisis began on December 20, 1994. (The Houston Chronicle, Feb. 26, 1995) |
| Feb 22, 1995 | Zapotecs and teachers in Oaxaca protested human rights abuses in Mexico by blocking access to the Oaxaca Mexico federal highway. Eight hundred people participated in this event. |
| Mar 10, 1995 | Labor Minister Santiago Onate announced that 250,000 Mexicans had lost their jobs since the December 20, 1994 economic crisis, and he predicted that another 500,000 jobs will be lost in the coming months. (The Houston Chronicle, March 12, 1995) |
| Apr 21, 1995 | A demonstration of thousands of indigenous peoples (including Zapotecs) took place in support of the Zapatistas of Chiapas during the first day of peace negotiations. The Mexican government threatened to cancel talks if the demonstrations did not stop. |
| May 29, 1995 | PAN won gubernatorial elections in the state of Guanajuato. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Jun 4, 1995 | PRI won gubernatorial elections in the state of Yucatan. Fraud charges ensued. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Jun 6, 1995 | Two thousand indigenous peasants shut down Mexico's stock market, the Bolsa, protesting against electoral fraud and economic recession. The protestors surrounded the stock market and did not allow people in or out of the building. This was the end of a 40 day march from the southeastern state of Tabasco to protest the fraud in the state elections from November. |
| Jun 6, 1995 | Mexican military officials received training and consultation from the Guatemalan government on issues of controlling and negotiating with rebel groups. Guatemala's rebel peasant group was based in Mexico City and Mexico housed over 100,000 Guatemalan refugee Indians. The two countries are working together to combat the guerilla groups and to coordinate military procedures toward them. |
| Aug 1995 | State government officials in Oaxaca agreed to allow Indian communities to choose local leaders through traditional methods, rather than party politics. (The Record, November 12, 1995) |
| Oct 1995 | Representatives of the Otomi, Zapotec, Chol, and other tribes called for autonomy during a round of the Chiapas peace talks. Some Indians in Chiapas and other regions already declared autonomy, forming militias and setting up councils of elders or other traditional, consensus-based forms of government. |
| Nov 13, 1995 | PRI won gubernatorial elections in the state of Michoacan. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Dec 29, 1995 | PEMEX, Mexico's leading petroleum company, laid off half of its workforce of 200,000 as it was becoming privatized. The PEMEX union and workers had marched in and supported demonstrations in Mexico City and at specific plants that were being sold. (The Houston Chronicle, December 26, 1995) |
| Apr 17, 1996 | All of Mexico's major political parties, except for PAN, agreed to fair election reforms that were supported by President Zedillo. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| May 1, 1996 | Tens of thousands of Mexicans held a May day rally against the Mexican government, signaling discontent over President Zedillo and his strict economic policies. There were no official estimates of crowd size available, but one estimate put the crowd at more than 100,000 people. Buildings and statues were painted with slogans and anti-government chants were shouted by the protestors. No serious violence was reported. (The Houston Chronicle, May 2, 1996) |
| Jul 3, 1996 | Two violent clashes between farmers and police occurred in the San Quintin Valley, south of Ensenada in Baja California. The incidents began when anywhere from 300 to 800 farm laborers from Rancho Santa Anita staged a demonstration after being denied pay for the third straight week. A riot ensued and the laborers began to throw stones. 5 people were injured (including 3 police officers), between 70 and 100 people were arrested, 25 businesses were damaged, vehicles were destroyed, and 71 people remained in jail by the end of the week. Most of the farm workers in the area are Mixtec, Zapotec, Oaxacan, and Triqui Indians from southern Mexico, and these workers have complained about low wages, poor housing, discrimination, physical abuse on the part of ranch owners, and neglect and indifference from municipal officials in Ensenada. |
| Jul 24, 1996 | The Organization of American States' human rights commission released a detailed description of human rights abuses in Mexico, especially highlighting police and official corruption and the intimidation of political activists. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Aug 10, 1996 | Mexico's attorney general, Antonio Lozano Gracia, announced that the Mexican army will be put in charge of Mexico's anti-drug operations. Most of the troops were deployed in the Juarez region of Mexico, near the Mexican-U.S. border (specifically near El Paso, Texas). U.S. State Department official Robert Gelbard expressed support for the Mexican army's anti-drug operations. (Austin American-Statesman, August 10, 1996) |
| Sep 25, 1996 | Agustin Luna Valencia, a school teacher and the mayor of the small Zapotec town of Los Loxichas, and ten others, including nearly the entire city council, were arrested and accused of murder, terrorism, sabotage, conspiracy, kidnapping and criminal association. The government claimed that the residents of Los Loxichas formed the core of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) that attacked the tourist town of Huatulco on August 29, 1996, leaving 11 people dead. According to testimonies taken from prisoners in Oaxaca and made available to the National Human Rights Commission, investigators believe that the EPR extended its reach throughout Oaxaca through the organizing efforts of the Oaxaca state teachers union. Several union leaders have stated their respect for the EPR but deny affiliation with it. Authorities were led to Los Loxichas after seven alleged participants in the Huatulco incident were arrested on September 1 and identified as residents of Los Loxichas (including the town treasurer). In their testimonials smuggled from prison, those detained on September 1 denied any involvement with the EPR and claimed they were forced to sign documents that they were not permitted to read. After the detention, several hundred teachers in Los Loxicha marched to the capital of Oaxaca and staged a sit-in outside the governor's office. Lawyers from the teacher's union also filed a number of legal petitions challenging the government's actions and provided the media and human rights organizations in Mexico and abroad with allegations that the government has tortured members of the union. |
| Nov 11, 1996 | PRI lost several mayoral races in the states of Mexico and Coahuila but retained control of the state legislatures. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Dec 1996 | A Oaxaca social organization called the Union of Zapotec Indians accused Mexican authorities of kidnapping and torturing at least 11 people with alleged ties to the Popular Revolutionary Army. The authorities denied the accusation. |
| Jan 6, 1997 | Press sources reported that two new rebel groups had emerged in Mexico. The Armed Front for the Liberation of Marginalized Peoples of Guerrero (State) and the Justice Army of the Defenseless People had both recently issued statements demanding improved conditions and justice for the poor. The Justice Army was blamed for the murders of four alleged bandits in Guerrero on Jan 1, 1997. Government officials assert that the rebel groups are merely criminals acting as organized guerrillas. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., January 6, 1996) |
| Feb 20 - 22, 1997 | A human rights observation team (affiliation unknown) visited the Los Loxichas region and verified that groups of informers were hired by caciques to identify presumed EPR members. The human rights team warned that harassment of inhabitants of Los Loxichas was continuing. |
| Mar 3, 1997 | The Mexican newspaper 'La Jornada' reported that the Mexican army and state and federal police began a ninth operation in the Los Loxichas region in order to carry out arrest orders against alleged members of the People's Revolutionary Army (EPR). As of this date, more than 59 Zapotecs, mostly municipal authorities, were detained in prisons in Santa Maria Ixcotel, Oaxaca, in the federal district, and in Tula, Hidalgo. |
| Mar 17, 1997 | PRI lost elections in 18 of 32 townships that it previously controlled in the state of Morelos. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| May 6, 1997 | The United States announced that it will provide $6 million to Mexico to create a new anti-narcotics force that will replace the old one, which was viewed as corrupt. (The Washington Times, May 6, 1997) |
| Jul 1997 | PRI loses control of the national congress and of Mexico City=s government in midterm elections. Many blamed the loss on Mexico=s heightening economic crisis. |
| Jul 6, 1997 | PRD candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas won mayoral elections in Mexico City. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Jul 13, 1997 | Official results showed that PRI lost its majority in the 500-seat Mexican Chamber of Deputies. PRI subsequently contested the results. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Aug 1 - Sep 30, 1997 | Indians in Oaxaca publicly claimed that the police and army were continuing to victimize them one year after EPR activity in the area ended. Human rights groups said that even though EPR activity in the area had subsided, Oaxacan Indians were still victims of arrest, beatings, kidnappings, and ''disappearances.'' These groups claimed that such kidnappings have increased and spread beyond Los Loxichas. As of this date, between 72 and 125 residents of Los Loxichas township (population 35,000) have been arrested and 15 Oaxacans have disappeared. Forty-four of the Los Loxichans that have been detained said that they were tortured, and four villagers continued to be missing after being detained by police, according to Adrina Carmona of the Fray Francisco de Vitoria human rights center. Most of those arrested have been identified as Zapotec Indians. Leandro Hernandez, spokesman for Oaxaca state, denied that the government was targeting residents of Los Loxichas and claimed that the state attorney general was investigating complaints against state police filed by residents of Los Loxichas. Human rights groups, however, accuse state police of detaining people, beating them and later releasing them. Several human rights groups sent a petition to the government's National Human Rights Commission asking it to take over the investigation of these complaints from a Oaxaca state commission and recommended that a human rights office be created in Los Loxichas. |
| Sep 28, 1997 | Amnesty International released a report stating that human rights abuses in Mexico were worsening, especially regarding disappearances and unlawful arrests. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Apr 8 - 9, 1998 | Violent land and property disputes occurred in Oaxaca. In one incident, about 300 Huave Indians from the village of San Francisco del Mar attempted to reclaim more than 120,000 acres of land held by Zapotecs of Ixhuatan. Three Huave Indians were killed, 5 people were injured, and at least 4 thatch houses in Ihnuatan were burned. Ixhuatan residents responded with a similar raid. About 600 Indian families were chased from their homes due to the fighting. Ixhuatan inhabitants have held the land for about 30 years, despite a presidential decree in favor of San Francisco. In addition, villagers in the municipality of Santa Maria Chimalapa seized the deputy director of the Oaxaca state judicial police and two bodyguards as police attempted to rescue 20 people from the town of Cuauhtemoc whom the villagers had been holding captive since March 25 after being accused of illegally cutting wood belonging to Santa Maria Chimalapa. The three officials were released after several hours, but the 20 villagers were still being held. |
| Aug 1998 | Hector Sanchez, a full-blooded Zapotec Indian, original member of COCEI, and PRD senator, competed in the Oaxacan gubernatorial election. Sanchez claimed that while he ultimately disagrees with the actions of the EPR, he understands why the grinding poverty experienced by many Mexicans could lead them to join such a group. As of this date, COCEI claimed that 50 of its members had been assassinated and 600 jailed on bogus charges since the organization=s inception. (The Atlanta Journal, August 1, 1998) |
| Dec 1 - 3, 1998 | A three-day battle over land ownership and destruction of produce between the Oaxacan Zapotec mountain communities of San Lorenzo Texmelucan and Santo Domingo Teojomulco occurred and left at least 14 people dead and 10 injured. Officials also found signs of torture on several of the dead bodies. Hector Anuar Mafud, secretary general of Oaxaca state, said the courts would deliver a verdict in a civil suit over the land in a few months. It is unsure whether or not that verdict has been handed down. |
| Jan 14, 1999 | Human Rights Watch released a report, compiled over a two-year period, stating that Mexican soldiers and police routinely commit human rights abuses that range from using illegal evidence to kidnapping to torture to murder. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Feb 7, 1999 | PRD won gubernatorial elections in the state of Baja California Sur. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Feb 14 - 15, 1999 | U.S. President Clinton and Mexican President Zedillo signed anti-drug trafficking accords, specifically how to measure anti-trafficking campaigns. (Chattanooga Times and Free Press, February 16, 1999) |
| Feb 14 - 22, 1999 | PRI won gubernatorial elections in the states of Quintana Roo, Hidalgo and Guerrero. Charges of fraud were made regarding the Quintana Roo and Guerrero elections. (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999) |
| Mar 7, 1999 | German President Roman Herzog visited the Zapotec community of San Mateo Mixtepec to see how villagers were making use of aid from Misereor, a German humanitarian foundation. The amount has reached "millions of marks," he said, without giving a figure. |
| Mar 9, 1999 | 6 police officers and one civilian were killed when gunmen opened fire on a police patrol that was looking for drug traffickers in Guerrero. (The Washington Times, March 9, 1999) |
| Apr 20, 1999 | Students occupy the campus of The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City to protest a planned increase in tuition from a few cents to the equivalent of $140 per year. The strike would last for nine months. The university contains roughly 270,000 students. (The Washington Times, February 15, 2000) |
| Aug 9, 1999 | 400 Zapotec, Mixtec, and Triqui employees of Rancho San Miguel in Baja California=s San Quintin region protested the lack of proper living and working conditions in the region. |
| Aug 22 - 31, 1999 | The Mexican government released 150 of approximately 5000 indigenous detainees as part of an early release program announced by the government's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). The majority of indigenous inmates were arrested in connection with drug smuggling, fights involving weapons, and drug production and trafficking. (Inter Press Service, August 31, 1999) |
| Nov 23 - Dec 31, 1999 | An unknown number of Zapotec Indians traveled to Seattle, Washington and participated in protests held at the World Trade Organization=s annual meeting. (Agence France Presse, November 23, 1999) |
| Feb 6, 2000 | Police put an end to the nine month student strike at The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) by storming the campus and arresting 745 activists who kept up the demonstration despite its rising unpopularity. Roughly 2500 strike supporters marched in opposition to the re-opening of the university, and about 100 of these supporters clashed with non-strike students outside of the university's law school. Students shouted and hurled debris at one another, but there were no reports of injuries. Over the course of the strike, the die-hard supporters had refocused the movement away from the tuition issue into a protest against market economics and Mexico's PRI-dominated political system. (The Washington Times, February 15, 2000) |
| May 17, 2000 | PRI approved the first presidential primary elections to be held in Mexico. Secret, nationwide balloting would replace the president choosing his successor. The new rules that PRI approved also contained stipulations concerning spending, campaign funding, and candidate resignation. (The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.), May 18, 1999) |
| Jul 2, 2000 | Vincente Fox, the National Action Party (PAN) candidate, won Mexico's presidential elections, defeating PRI. PRI had governed Mexico for 71 years. Fox defeated Francisco Labasida of the PRI and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the PRD. Fox stated that he planned to re-open negotiations with the EZLN. The EZLN did not immediately respond to the election results. (Agence France Presse, July 3, 2000) |
| Jul 4, 2000 | The PRD rejected an invitation by President-elect Vincente Fox to join him in a "concord government" (Agence France Presse, July 5, 2000). PRI did not immediately respond to Fox's offer. (Agence France Presse, July 5, 2000) |
| Jul 7, 2000 | PRI supporters in Nezahualcoyotl attacked the local office of the electoral institute, claiming that local mayoral elections on July 2 were fraudulent. PRI supporters clashed with police and 20 supporters and one police officer were injured. Police used teargas to disperse the crowd. In addition, it was reported that at least 30 people were injured in post-election, pro-PRI demonstrations across Mexico in the days following July 2 elections. (Agence France Presse, July 8, 2000) |
