In the morning of January 30th, Alejandro Barrita Ortiz, director of the Auxiliary, Industrial, Banking and Commercial Police, was assassinated in Oaxaca City at “El Tequio” sports park near the international airport. Two versions of the assassination have surfaced, one which claims the assassins used a 380 and 9mm handguns, and another which claims AK-47s were the weapons of choice. The second version further states that the assassins fled the scene in a red pickup and a black Dodge Stratus.

Unofficial reports have surfaced indicating that a phone call was made to the local emergency services hotline by someone claiming to represent the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), and that the caller clarified there were “two more left to go”. Barrita, director of the obscure police agency, had been identified as a key player in police operations during and immediately after the 2006 Oaxacan popular uprising. He was accused of illegal detentions of activists, as well as coordinating extra judicial operations against the popular social movement.

At the very least, his assassination represents serious ideological provocation against members of the peaceful popular social movement of the Oaxacan Peoples' Popular Assembly (APPO). Police operations are underway throughout the city, and the military has cordoned off the area of the assassination.