MEXICO CITY — The governor of a southern Mexican state says he will not resign despite a Supreme Court ruling blaming him for rights abuses during deadly 2006 protests.
Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz says he respects the Supreme Court ruling but disagrees with it. He says he has no intention of resigning.
Ruiz spoke to reporters Friday, two days after the Supreme Court ruled that he had "plain responsibility" for the 2006 conflict that paralyzed Oaxaca's picturesque colonial capital and left at least a dozen dead.
The ruling has no binding consequences but carries moral weight.
The conflict started as a teachers' strike and quickly ballooned into a broader movement to demand Ruiz's resignation over allegations that he rigged his electoral victory.
With an historic 7-4 vote the Supreme Court of Mexico this week held responsible Governor Ulises Ruiz (URO) of Oaxaca for violations of human rights. Rejecting the opinion of Justice Mariano Azuela, the Court, for only the second time, blames a sitting governor for violating citizen’s individual rights. The one previous condemnation followed a massacre of seventeen campesinos in Guerrero in 1995. The governor later resigned.
The present ruling justifies the claims of violations of many civil society organizations, the APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca), and Section 22 of SNTE (National Education Workers Union). The teachers union now hold symbolic leadership of the struggle for social justice in Oaxaca.
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