At this moment, the strikers of Oaxaca are beginning to barricade in the streets as they are preparing an attack from the military. Narco News is reporting that the Mexican Navy have been carrying out reconnaissance operations over the buildings and public spaces occupied by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO in its Spanish initials).

DKos diariest, la urracca has also reported there have been sightings of miltary helicoptors overheard since last night, and word is that military have surrounded the city. La urracca report is very similar to what what Narco News reported.

Two MI-17 helicopters and one CASA C212 Navy airplane with registration number AMP-118 flew over the streets of the city – where opponents of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz have maintained several encampments over the past 130 days – for about 40 minutes.

The zocalo, or central city square, the Oro and La Ley radio stations, the state government building, the Brenamiel and El Rosario radio antennas, as well as the Department of Finance building – all places where the rebels have installed protest camps – were reconnoitered by low-level flights of military aircraft.

Dan Feder of Narco News also confirms the sightings of military aircraft flying above the City of Oaxaca.

The Mexican news agency Notimex reports:

OAXACA: A Mexican Navy helicpter again flew over both the outskirts and center of the state capital, provoking uneasiness among the members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO in its Spanish initials) and teachers who have occupied parts of the city since May.

Just after 10:30 a.m., an aircraft could be heard in the cloudy Oaxacan sky that was later confirmed to be one of the two that flew by the night before, but on this occasion its flight was slower and higher in altitude.

People who have participated in the barricades and on the APPO's Security and Vigilance Committee launched rockets, just as they had the night before, but did not manage even to slow the aircraft.

Just after noon, a Mexican Navy airplane also passed over the city. The radio station 710 AM, "The Law of the People," occupied by the APPO since August 21, broadcast messages requesting that people not make rash decision: "Let us not fall into making decisions out of desperation; let remain calm."

What is happening is a legitmate popular uprising caused by the abuses of a corrupt and repressive Goveror who won his election by fraud. The same kind of fraud that handed Felipe Calderon his victory.

The diaries La Urracca also posted that they have have recieved emails and calls out of Oaxaca, asking people to call our embassies, Amnesty International, and even Amy Goodman to report about this matter. If anybody with press connections, please get this story out as soon as possible before thousands of lives perish by the hands of the Mexican military. Here is a video of what is going on now.

Entrevista con Zenén Bravo dirigente de la APPO previa al desalojo, prevista por el monitoreo aéreo de helicópteros y aviones del Ejército

A web site, El Enemigo Común (in English and Spanish), that has more on what is happening.

Here is a list of Mexican Consulates in the US and Canada.

The time to help is now! Viva Mexico!

Update: A friend of mine posted an email they received from somebody inside Oaxaca City -

Oaxaca, Saturday 30 September 2006

Friends,
I do not know whether this is only another of the many threats or whether the government has become so desperate that it is about to begin a bloody assault in an attempt to terrorize the people of Mexico into submission. The message that follows, from [Name], is not the first urgent note from him. A few nights ago he reported receiving word from important people in Mexico City that the police were set to clear the Oaxaca City center (meaning to drive out all the protestors camping there) in the early hours of the following morning. That did not happen. However, what he reports below I also witnessed. Two military helicopters repeatedly circled the city. I took pictures but have not yet downloaded them to my computer.

Two days ago I talked with a woman teacher at an encampment set up to protect one of the radio stations that the movement controls. At that planton (guard camp), she told me, all the campers were teachers, all were indigenous of two groups, Zapotecs from the Sierra Juarez (in the northern Sierra), where she was from, and Mixtecas from the Mixteca Alta region to the northwest of Oaxaca City. I told her I was worried that the government might launch an attack, to which she replied that if it came to that, she and her companeros would all die. I assure you they want a peaceful resolution, and that it is the government that is trying to provoke violence. I hope we can spread the word outside of Mexico sufficiently to help deter the government from following such a bloody course. The psychological attacks are bad enough, but if they start heavy-duty shooting it'll be a terrible bloodbath.

G.

[attached message]
Subject: Inminent attack from the Mexican Federal Goverment to civil organizations

Please dear Sirs.
It is very important to send mails to all your contacts saying that at exactly at 4:50 minutes Saturday afternoon , September the 30th, helicopters from the Mexican Marine Corps and the PFP (Federal Preventive Police), started overflying downtown Oaxaca, Mexico, trying to intimidate its citizens revolting against its corrupt Government. On the Oaxacan Peoples Popular Assembly (APPO) radio, it was asked to all citizens to remain calm, not to start violence and to send phone, mail and voice messages to all authorities and people who could act as witnesses to this attack. So please, do it!