UPDATE, Monday 10/30: Peter Kuper sent out the following update today:
Sad to say it seems to be getting worse as of this morning but hard as always to verify without going downtown. For some reason Betty doesn’t want me to head to the zocalo–something about me getting shot or arrested and deported–go figure!
Latest I’ve heard was that there are 3 different groups marching to the Zocalo and that there has been fighting in the street with the Federal police.
We’re sitting tight in San Felipe,we dropped Emily at school like it was a normal day and are keeping an ear on the news/internet.
He also sent some new drawings. Click to enlarge.
Several months ago cartoonist Peter Kuper moved with his wife and daughter to Oaxaca City, Mexico for a year’s stay. Kuper has long been known as a very politically aware cartoonist, having edited WORLD WAR 3 , and contributed to other left-leaning anthologies over the years.
We aren’t up enough on Mexican politics to know if it was a hot spot when they moved there, but it has been much in the news lately due to protests by social activists who are protesting the rule of state governor Ulises Ruiz, whom they accuse of corruption. In recent days the federal government stepped in with an invasion by thousands of federal riot police:
Mexican riot police backed by helicopters and armoured trucks tightened their grip over the colonial city of Oaxaca on Monday after seizing it from leftist protesters in clashes that left one person dead.
Thousands of federal police, some armed with assault rifles, stormed the beautiful city popular with foreign tourists early on Sunday and steadily gained control by using tear gas and water cannon.
They finally occupied its central square as night fell and demonstrators armed with metal poles and sticks pulled back.
An American journalist making a documentary, Brad Will, was killed in the rioting over the last few days. It all sounds like something out of DMZ, but it’s real life, alas.
We’ve been on Peter’s mailing list, and he sent an email out over the weekend saying that he and his family live ten minutes from downtown and have been safe. “Throughout our time here(four months now) these problems have been hanging over Oaxaca, but we have nonetheless been having a fantastic experience,” he writes.
He also sent a link to a previous email posted on a friends site. Posted above is a page from Peter’s sketchbook from earlier in his stay which he gave us permission to post here.
Needless to say, we send many good thoughts for the continued safety of Peter and his family, and all those involved in the conflict.
Art © 2006 Peter Kuper.
Perhaps Bill Ward is another American journo killed recently in Oaxaca, but I think you may be thinking of Brad Will, who was shot last Friday. You can see the footage he was shooting as he died here.
Oops sorry for for that very dumb mistake. Thanks for the correction.
Do you sell prints? And how much? Thanks
– Richard
Hola Mr. Kuper. I operate a website in Oaxaca and would like to add (link) your site to my index. My site is called, Zocalo Magazine, the online edition is Jaguar Speak at . May I add your like to the online edition? Thank you, Alan Goodin. Cell phone 951-510-3253.
I would like to see a continuation of the topic
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