The Committee for the Defense of the People's Rights (CODEP) has reported that Félix López, a leader of that organization, died November 23 under suspicious circumstances in an automobile accident. CODEP has condemned his death as a murder. He was the third CODEP leader to be killed--all of them in "auto accidents"--in the midst of repressive campaigns by the government and right-wing paramilitary groups.

CODEP was founded in 1993 to fight against discrimination by landlords and government officials, against exploitation and corruption, and for improved living conditions. It is made up of more than 300 peasant communities, two transportation unions, three taxi associations, and two other trade unions in Oaxaca. CODEP is affiliated to the "Ricardo Flores Magón" Indigenous and People's Council of Oaxaca (CIPO-RFM).

López had a long history of political activity in the state of Oaxaca. He was involved in an action by peasants in May 1985 that took over land from landlord Melchor Alonzo and established a community called Unión Nacional Zafra. In August 1987 he and others took over 50 hectares of land from landlord Ricardo Martel and founded the Campo de Aviación community. In March 1998, he was part of an occupation of 20 hectares of idle land in Huajuapan de León.

Because of López's involvement in takeovers of government offices, public demonstrations, and other legal activities, the previous governor, Eduardo Diodoro Carrasco, and the current one, José Murat Casat, had issued orders of arrest against him.

In September 1997 he was arrested and tortured by the police. He "appeared" 48 hours later in a jail in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, after a public protest campaign by CODEP. On April 18, 1998, he was one of 130 members of CIPO who were arrested and tortured. After an eight-month defense campaign, CODEP won his release.

On November 10, López joined a demonstration by taxi drivers in Putla de Guerrero that was attacked by the preventive, municipal, and transit police forces and by paramilitary groups. He was among the demonstrators most seriously injured in the assault. It was 13 days later that he was killed.

Two other CODEP leaders have been killed in alleged auto accidents. Héctor Alvarado Herrera, founder of CODEP, was killed after he left a political meeting in Mexico City on July 5, 1993. Silviano Herrera Ortiz, a teacher, was killed on Dec. 15, 1998, on the Puebla-Oaxaca highway.  
 
Struggles by taxi drivers
The death of López takes place in the midst of struggles by taxi drivers fighting for their livelihoods and other social struggles by indigenous communities in Oaxaca. Some of these struggles are reported in the first two issues of the newsletter Nuestra Palabra (Our Word), a new publication produced by CODEP.

The drivers of taxis and other commercial vehicles have been organizing to defend their rights. Drivers work under miserable conditions, with no paid vacations, social security, or other benefits. While independent unions are harassed, government transportation officials give preferential treatment to gangster-run drivers' unions that demand between 15,000 and 30,000 pesos just to join, and then the government requires between 100,000 and 300,000 pesos for taxi permits, depending on locations and services provided.

The state transportation secretary, Aurora López Acevedo, and local officials in Oaxaca have been relying on rightist gunmen to issue death threats against taxi drivers organized in the Independent Drivers Union (UTI). Gunmen hired by local bosses of the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), the former ruling party of Mexico, have threatened a leader of the drivers, Gregorio Serrano.

In Putla de Guerrero, López Acevedo and PRI bosses Noé Castro and Ramón Arellano have backed armed groups of thugs that have threatened drivers at taxi stations organized by CODEP. For years, taxi drivers in Putla have been fighting for official permits authorizing them to work. On November 10, the drivers at three taxi stations--the Ñuu-Kaa, April 10, and Héctor Alvarado Herrera stands--won the issuance of permits from the transportation authorities.

That same day, however, transportation secretary López Acevedo ordered the arrest of drivers working with the very permits her office had issued. The drivers organized a peaceful protest at city hall to protest the arrests. They were assaulted by paramilitary groups disguised as taxi drivers at PRI-backed taxi stations. Several protesters were injured by the thugs.

Government officials have also tried to disrupt other political actions, including a series of public forums on the fight for Indian rights sponsored by CIPO. Following the November 10 thug attack, taxi drivers affiliated to CIPO called on local residents and Indian organizations to attend a public forum the next day.

A statewide protest demonstration was called for November 18 by taxi drivers and others in the city of Oaxaca, the state capital. The day before, demonstrators departed from their respective towns, forming a car caravan to the city of Oaxaca.

In the town of Pinotepa Nacional, a group of 500 demonstrators from several towns who had gathered to travel to Oaxaca was blocked by paramilitary groups and the preventive police, who were deployed by the state governor and Acevedo López. Armed with clubs and guns, they threatened to beat up and kill the demonstrators including women, children, and old people.

CODEP and CIPO have called for the removal of López Acevedo and is holding the government responsible for any attack on the drivers and their unions.

Pedro Rubén Jiménez is a member of CODEP's Organization and Mobilization Committee.  
 
 
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