Oaxaca Mexico

OAXACA, Mexico--The zocalo, or central plaza, a 473-year-old colonnaded square, is the heart of this city, and its languid beat almost never changes. In timeless rhythm, people linger in sidewalk cafes under its stone arches, watching passersby stroll in the shade of Indian laurels around its gazebo. The same two dozen local merchants along its perimeters have been fixtures for years, enjoying moderate, easygoing prosperity.

It was Easter weekend when people in Oaxaca noticed strange happenings at the state-run Dr. Aurelio Valdivieso General Hospital. Sections were suddenly off-limits. Security guards were added. The cop reporter at the local newspaper, El Diario Despertar, got a tip from a source at the hospital. Not above dressing its journalists up as paramedics, the paper sent two people to investigate. They quickly realized that the hospital was seized by alarm.

Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca has two dominant character traits. It's a hub of artistic creativity, known for the superlative caliber of its rugs, whimsical carved animals and brittle black pottery. And it's a hotbed of political discontent, a long-oppressed region whose heavily indigenous population chafes under crushing poverty, ethnic discrimination and autocratic political rule.

Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca has two dominant character traits. It's a hub of artistic creativity, known for the superlative caliber of its rugs, whimsical carved animals and brittle black pottery. And it's a hotbed of political discontent, a long-oppressed region whose heavily indigenous population chafes under crushing poverty, ethnic discrimination and autocratic political rule.

If you are having trouble getting your hands on fresh spinach these days, you may be able to commiserate with the owners of Mexican restaurants serving cuisine from the state of Oaxaca. Political unrest in the southern Mexico region has translated into U.S. shortages of imported traditional staples, among them fried grasshoppers, spicy mole paste and crunchy tortillas known as tlayudas.

IT'S all about the worm. A scrum of tourists rushed the tasting bar of Mezcal Beneva's restaurant-distillery Rancho Zapata, just a few yards from the kilometer 42.5 marker on the Oaxaca-Istmo highway. Eighteen-year-old Marisol Reyes had just given us a guided tour of the distillery, called a palenque in Spanish. She told us about the agave plants and how they're harvested and cooked. We watched a donkey drag a huge stone wheel round and round a track crushing agave pulp.

It was Easter weekend when people in Oaxaca noticed strange happenings at the state-run Dr. Aurelio Valdivieso General Hospital. Sections were suddenly off-limits. Security guards were added. The cop reporter at the local newspaper, El Diario Despertar, got a tip from a source at the hospital. Not above dressing its journalists up as paramedics, the paper sent two people to investigate. They quickly realized that the hospital was seized by alarm.

Hundreds of federal police officers packed up their tents and marched out of Oaxaca's central square, ending their seven-week occupation. The officers had been sent in to put down a lengthy protest by leftists that had left nine people dead. More than 4,000 federal police seized the plaza from protesters in October, five months after they had taken it over to demand the resignation of Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

Military helicopters stepped up flyovers above the protest-racked Mexican colonial city of Oaxaca, where activists who have seized parts of the city fear a government offensive to expel them. The helicopters, which first appeared Saturday, swooped low over the center of the popular tourist town, angering protesters who have blocked streets for months to demand the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

Gunmen attacked Oaxaca's university radio station, authorities said Sunday, the latest incident in a wave of confrontations and protests that have driven many tourists out of this historic Mexican city. Assailants fired rounds into the station's windows while it was on-air late Saturday, the Oaxaca state government said. Nobody was hurt in the attack. Witnesses said the attack was carried out by at least 10 masked assailants. The station has supported a wave of protests aimed at ousting Gov.

Angry protests, tight security and empty hotel rooms marked the celebration Monday of Guelaguetza, a folk festival that is traditionally the biggest tourist draw of the year in this city dependent on the money visitors spend here. A year ago, protests forced the cancellation of Guelaguetza. This month, a new round of violent demonstrations over the rule of Oaxaca state Gov.

Thousands of protesters marched in Oaxaca to demand the resignation of the state governor, showing their 9-month-old movement is still alive despite hundreds of arrests. The protesters -- a mix of teachers, trade unions and leftist and Indian groups -- accuse Gov. Ulises Ruiz of rigging his 2004 election and sending gangs of armed thugs to attack opponents.

Mexican authorities announced the capture of the purported leader of a drug cartel based in the southern state of Oaxaca. Pedro Diaz Parada was taken to Mexico City. He faces charges related to organized crime and drug trafficking, the attorney general's office announced.

A few scenes from a crippled tourist town: Plywood covers the windows of a torched government building. Laborers paint over scrawls of graffiti. A maid folds sheets in a hotel with no guests. And with no travelers to hear their songs, a mariachi band idly paces the main plaza. Since May, political protests, arsons and shootings transformed Oaxaca from a charming colonial town into a city under siege, severely damaging its tourist-based economy.

ROWS of poinsettias are rising along the zocalo, where police and protesters recently brawled. Fresh coats of paint are being slapped on buildings to cover up angry graffiti. Even though the barricades have been removed and the blood has been mopped from the streets, this colonial-era city is struggling to recover from a violent spasm that scarred its buildings, traumatized its citizens and left as many as a dozen people dead over a seven-month span.

Hundreds of federal police officers packed up their tents and marched out of Oaxaca's central square, ending their seven-week occupation. The officers had been sent in to put down a lengthy protest by leftists that had left nine people dead. More than 4,000 federal police seized the plaza from protesters in October, five months after they had taken it over to demand the resignation of Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

Federal police surrounded a university packed with leftist protesters here Thursday, clearing barricades and firing tear gas as the activists showered them with gasoline bombs. At least 20 protesters, 10 officers and three news photographers were injured. About 200 police officers in body armor and carrying riot shields advanced to the gates of Benito Juarez Autonomous University and fought the protesters for more than six hours before retreating.

The state capital remained divided Monday, as thousands marched in defiance and others praised government forces that dislodged a protest encampment from the city center this weekend. The recovery of the plaza by federal police late Sunday marked a symbolic end to the five-month occupation by striking teachers and leftist supporters who are demanding that the state governor resign. But it remains unclear when the tourist capital will return to normal.

Mexican federal police were holding Flavio Sosa, the self-styled rebel and leader of Oaxaca's protest movement, in a maximum-security prison Tuesday after detaining him hours before he was to meet with negotiators for another federal agency.

Leftist protesters trying to force out the Oaxaca state governor set fire to another building Sunday after a night of burning vehicles and government offices in running street battles with police that injured at least 43 people. The violence broke out late Saturday after masked youths broke away from a protest march by about 4,000 people and began attacking police and buildings in this picturesque state capital.