Oaxaca Mexico

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.

A distance of only nine miles separates 30-year-old Camerino Cruz from the glittering hotels of Santa Cruz Huatulco, where well-heeled Americans relax poolside in designer swimsuits. But the tiny one-bedroom concrete house that Cruz shares with his wife and four children seems a continent away. "We've been patient," he said Saturday, describing his hamlet's five-year quest to get the government to provide clean drinking water. He shot a glance at a visitor. "But that could be changing."

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.

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.

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.

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.

When Oaxacan immigrants came to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, they settled in what's now known as Pico-Union and Koreatown. One of the few things they brought with them was a love of basketball that borders on obsession. This is especially true among Zapotec Indians from the Oaxacan mountain range known as the Sierra Juarez in southern Mexico. "Our fever," Otomi Dominguez, a highland Zapotec, calls the sport.

A conflict between striking teachers and the government of Oaxaca is threatening to envelope the southern state in crisis ahead of the July 2 presidential election, with the teachers promising a new wave of mobilizations this week. The strike, which began as a demand for significant wage increases, has evolved into a political dispute, with the teachers now calling for the resignation or impeachment 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.

About 500 women banging spoons against pots and pans seized a state-run television station and broadcast a homemade video Wednesday that showed police kicking protesters out of Oaxaca's main square last month. The women took control of Oaxaca's Channel 9 station Tuesday and held employees for about six hours before releasing them. It was unclear how long the siege would last, and no police officers were seen near the station Wednesday. The standoff was the latest by demonstrators who accuse Gov.