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| Self-proclaimed "anarchists" in front of Bellas Artes (Photo: Mexico Voices) |
Second in series of articles on report by Mexico City Human Rights Commission regarding vandalism and police actions that occurred on December 1.La Jornada: Adolfo Gilly
See La Jornada, 4/22/2013 and 4/24/2013.
"They destroyed everything here: the Hilton, the Wings, the K, the newsstand, everything," a shop owner on the Alameda [park next to Bellas Artes] told me in the middle of December.
He was an eyewitness to the events:
In effect, the report says (p. 24) that at 12:50 PM units of the Metropolitan Police stationed there advanced a few feet, but immediately
One wonders at this point, did they protect or not protect? The answer is on the following page, 25, of the report.
Now, a problem remained: after such a bizarre chase, no arrest had been made, not even a token. Then, the report continues,
On Enrique Peña Niet's Inauguration Day, a violent group of forty to fifty people rampaged through the streets of the city from San Lázaro [Chamber of Deputies] to the Alameda [park at Avenida Juárez and Eje Central] and from 6:40 AM to 2:00 PM--more than seven hours--destroying everything in its path.
Why did they enjoy the freedom of action and impunity described in detail by the Commission of Human Rights in the Federal District [Mexico City]? A reading of the report suggests such words and phrases as: difference of opinion among the commanders, provocation, incompetence and complicity.
We shall try to scrutinize and unravel the mystery in our next article. Spanish original
See also:
"The police were there, watching without moving. Days after, one of them told me they had strict orders not to intervene."
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| Riot police block streets leading from Bellas Artes to the Zocalo Photo: Mexico Voices |
The report of the Human Rights Commission of the Federal District (CDHDF) amply confirms this and other testimonies that I put together for my article "The Provocation of December 1st" (La Jornada, 17/12/12).
In effect, the report says (p. 24) that at 12:50 PM units of the Metropolitan Police stationed there advanced a few feet, but immediately
"they were ordered to stop and continue [the policy of] containment with the argument that members of the CNTE [National Coordinating Committee of Education Workers, dissident wing of teachers union] were still there."
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| Prior to arrival of the "anarchists", dissident teachers had marched peacefully past Bellas Artes and along Avenida Juarez Photo: Mexico Voices |
[In fact,] they were already far away on the Paseo de la Reforma [major boulevard]. The report is precise about this crucial moment:
"From analysis of the evidence, the CDHDF noted that at precisely the time that the new order was given to stop and contain, i.e., around 12:50 PM, members of the Group [the violent group of forty people coming from San Lázaro wreaking havoc] went to several businesses and government offices located on the south side of Avenida Juárez, damaging and looting."Here again, the report says, Superintendent Adriana Campero Báez,
"Taking into account that some of the people in the Group had caused damage to business establishments along Avenida Juárez," she warned her superiors about the risk to the Hilton Hotel:
"Chief [...] we should also provide tighter guard at the Hilton, Chief, the Hilton, because they already went into the Wings [restaurant], and they are going to burn all the furniture that they took out."
Thus pressed, at 12:58 PM the commanders gave orders to move to protect the hotel. Minutes later, continues the report, came another compelling order:
"Whoever may, whoever may, you are going to protect the hotel."
Nevertheless, the report concludes, "the hotel facilities were damaged."
* * * * *
One wonders at this point, did they protect or not protect? The answer is on the following page, 25, of the report.
"So, the shops and public facilities affected on Avenida Juárez were an OXXO store, the KFC and Wings restaurants, a branch of the Federal Electricity Commission, the building of the Comptroller General of the Federal District, the Sanborns shop and restaurant, and Banorte and Bancomer bank branches, among others." [My own visual inspection told me that there were more.]
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| Self-proclaimed "anarchists" break windows of Bancomer on Avenida Juarez Photo: Mexico Voices |
However, continues the document:
"In the time period in which the final order was given that police units not advance, the operational commanders put forward various operational strategies aimed at surrounding members of the Group."
But, says the CDHDF report,
"nevertheless, they were not performed according to the plan of senior commanders that they would remain in the place of the CNTE members, and they had to avoid any act of provocation. This despite the fact that, according to the evidence (videotapes and radio communications), one can see that the CNTE members at that time were already on the Paseo de la Reforma, that is, at a considerable distance from the Group."
The report registers an undeniable fact: the operational commanders, that is, those who were at the scene of the violent events, asked to intervene, and they put forward how to do it. Senior commanders, the leadership at the operation's command center, continued invoking the supposed presence of the CNTE, and so they gave free rein to the Group.
Meanwhile, while this divergence of opinions and intentions was taking place, the CDHDF says that,
"Group members remained in the area causing damage, uprooting sewer grates as a tool for breaking sidewalk curbs and getting concrete blocks to attack the police, actions that were carried out without much difficulty right in front of the police forces themselves."
The police voices recorded at this point exclaim:
"They are breaking the drains. Have you seen it?"
"Yes, I saw it, sir, now I have them here in front. Hey! Re-organize there. Fall back, fall back!"
* * * * *
Not until after 1:00 PM did the senior operational command issue the operating order to the Metropolitan Police commander:
"Units under your command might enter Avenida Juárez."
However, the report continues,
"by the time this action was carried out, members of the Group had already left Avenida Juárez" and dispersed.Or so the senior commanders assumed or were said to believe. But it turned out not to be true: the vandals were not dead, they went on a spree. These commanders, according to the report, showed
"signs of surprise when they find out, at 1:12 PM, that approximately 40-60 Group members were located on Paseo de la Reforma [main boulevard] and caused damage to the hotel Meliá." [...]
"So how are they on Reforma if they had dispersed?" asks the recorded voice of one of those commanders.The Group, meanwhile, moves on:
"Minutes later, members of the Group moved on to Avenida Paseo de la Reforma leaving in its wake damage to various stores and businesses, damaging a shop and Sanborns restaurant, a local Medilaser, the facilities of the ISSSTE [Institute of Civil Service Employees] and TURISSSTE."
Continuing their journey, the Group "began to damage the Meridien Hotel." At this point, the CNDH report takes on the rhythm of a Buster Keaton film:
- Police trucks "arrive at the hotel around 1:15 PM, but in those [intervening] minutes, the
- Group scattered in the streets surrounding the Monument to the Revolution.
- Police units follow them, but do not get them surrounded, much less arrest them. [...]
- Some members of the Group met again on the Avenida Paseo de la Reforma and
- At 1:19 PM broke the windows of the IXE bank branch, the OXXO [convenience] store and a Burger King restaurant, which is located at the Columbus Traffic Circle."
- Afterwards, they "continued their march [...] and caused damage to a [currency] exchange, a Bancomer branch, offices of the Secretariat of Government Affairs [SEGOB], the Hotel Seville, a Banorte ATM and a MiBanco branch." [...]
"on Avenida Paseo de la Reforma, they managed to cross Insurgentes Avenue, where they also caused damage to traffic lights and street furniture, before dispersing in the periphery of the Monument to the Mother, that is, along the streets of the Cuauhtémoc and Juárez neighborhoods."
And here is the adventure's ineffable, incomparable conclusion:
"It should be noted that during the route followed by the Group from the Columbus Traffic Circle to the Monument to the Mother, police units claimed to implement various operations in order to arrest them, but without success. Even in that stretch they never succeeded in catching them." [...]
"Finally, at about 2:00 PM the commanders reported that calm had returned to the Paseo de la Reforma."
* * * * *
Now, a problem remained: after such a bizarre chase, no arrest had been made, not even a token. Then, the report continues,
"in response to the senior order of detention, it continued securing people on the streets of the Historic Center [that is, very far from the famous Group]. At 1:42 PM, three [people] were stopped at the intersection of Francisco I Street and the Eje Central [major avenue, near Bellas Artes]. This situation angered some people who witnessed the arrests; starting from that time, and for the same reason, a very small group tried to intervene while others in protest threw stones and other objects at the police."
The police command post then ordered their subordinates
"to surround this crowd in order to arrest them, an action not performed again with the argument that there are too few police units." [...]
But the encouragement to surround whomever they might did not diminish:
"After several unsuccessful maneuvers to surround, they made some isolated arrests: at 1:46 PM, [they arrested] six on the Eje Central and Cinco de Mayo [streets], and at around 2:00 PM another seventeen on Eje Central."
Something is something: although these detainees were peaceful passersby, they were better than nothing. The saga concluded:
"The command post of the SSPDF until 2:22 PM ordered protection of establishments and facilities that were damaged, so finally at 2:30 PM, Avenida Juárez and the Eje Central were opened. Then, at 3:00 PM, the entire state of force was assembled at the Plaza of the Constitution [also called the Zócalo]."
MV Note: The Zócalo is Mexico City's Main Square, bounded by the Cathedral and the National Palace, where Enrique Peña Nieto delivered his Inaugural Address before an assembly of international dignitaries and guests.Preliminary Conclusions
On Enrique Peña Niet's Inauguration Day, a violent group of forty to fifty people rampaged through the streets of the city from San Lázaro [Chamber of Deputies] to the Alameda [park at Avenida Juárez and Eje Central] and from 6:40 AM to 2:00 PM--more than seven hours--destroying everything in its path.
According to the CDHDF, the
- "security force, transportation and supervision" mobilized from the night of November 29 amounted to a staff of 5,172 units and a vehicle fleet of 195 units; and the
- senior commanders of this force, at least from 9:00 AM on December 1, relied on
"the needed information [...] regarding the pattern of activity of members of the Group, but above all their belligerent capacity and their persistent intention to cause damage."
The violent actions and absence of ideas of this Group did not match any of the [known] left or democratic factions, but to groups of thugs [porros] of long memory and widespread existence.
Why did they enjoy the freedom of action and impunity described in detail by the Commission of Human Rights in the Federal District [Mexico City]? A reading of the report suggests such words and phrases as: difference of opinion among the commanders, provocation, incompetence and complicity.
We shall try to scrutinize and unravel the mystery in our next article. Spanish original
See also:
- Vandalism was Prepared, Protected Provocation; and
- Mexico Operation 1DMX: Provocation From Above (third, final article in the series).