Mexico sends forces to Oaxaca
POSTED: 10:05 a.m. EDT, October 28, 2006
OAXACA, Mexico (AP) -- President Vicente Fox announced Saturday he was sending federal police into the violence-wracked southern state capital of Oaxaca after a U.S. journalist and at least two Mexican men were killed by gunfire.
The clashes occurred Friday as leftist protesters barricaded streets as part of a five-month-old campaign to oust the governor.
Fox's office issued a declaration saying that the federal forces would concentrate in Oaxaca city on Saturday. His office later clarified that he was referring to federal police, not troops, but did not specify how many were being sent.
The president earlier had repeatedly shied away from sending such forces to the city, apparently hoping to avoid involving them in violence confrontations.
Gunfire on Friday erupted in a rough Oaxaca neighborhood when armed men tried to remove a blockade set up by protesters demanding the resignation of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz, according to state officials and witnesses. Both sides fired but it was not clear who shot first.'
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