Uncovering Mexico

By Max Uhler

July 17, 2007 9:19 PM | Link to this

Editor,

Indeed, the official Guelegetza will be safe for tourists. The guarantee of the government is meaningless, however. The safety of tourists is in the hands of the people of Oaxaca, as it always has been - not the government’s.

I live in the Centro District of Oaxaca de Juarez, a few blocks from the Zocalo, and have since January of 2006. So, I’ve been here for the whole of the popular uprising, or - if you prefer - the leftist rioting. When the government tear gases the Zocalo, I know about it right away and I hustle down to see what’s going on.

Curiously, the Oaxacans, who hate the US government only slightly less than they hate their own, not to mention their outrage at the NAFTA, free trade policies which have devastated the region economically; the Oaxacans still like us.

True, they feel that we have more money than is good for us and that they should help us out by relieving us of as much as they possibly can. But they have standards.

I dropped a hundred peso note from my shirt pocket when I tripped in the Zocalo today. Half a block away, an old Zapotec man caught up with me and handed me the note back. Nor would he take any reward, he wouldn’t even comment on my offer. He just turned and walked off.

Mind you, I wouldn’t want to haggle with him over the price of a rug or a woodcarving…he would skin me alive and leave me believing I had made the best buy of my life.

During the riots this attitude was apparent. If you’re an obvious tourist wandering about in a place where a confrontation is expected, the folks here will tell you what’s going on. They will urge you to get off the street. Their attitude is that this is their fight and it would be better if you stayed safe and out of the way. During the period that the government military and police forces were banished from the city, a period of almost five months, tourism related crime neither increased of decreased, mostly because it has never been a problem here.

During the events of last year, and continuing until today, at least 26 people have died in Oaxaca, obviously at the hands of the local authorities. Many, many more have been jailed with no access to anything like lawyers or habeus corpus writs. Others, lots of others, have just disappeared.

So come down for the Guelegetza. The folks here will protect you from the government. Just as they try to protect themselves.

Max

By Tony

July 21, 2007 2:40 AM | Link to this

Having lived and worked in Oaxaca in the 70’s I can concur with Max- the people of Oaxaca, like other indigenous people, have principles that they live up to.

There was trouble in those days too, with the students occupying the university for months. I nearly got caught up in it when watching a march on the Governor’s by the campesinos when the local police surrounded the march and attacked them - not with tear gas but with live ammo! Several were killed and dissapeared, and the creepy thing was witnessing some of the action being commandered by a fellow gringo with a walkie-talkie dressed as a tourist.

As long as you don’t get caught in the cross-fire, you will always be treated with care and respect by the good people of Oaxaca.

By rolf

July 26, 2007 6:49 PM | Link to this

…so nice to hear such a balanced and impartial comment on the situation in Oaxaca, both from the articles author and from those commenting!! Internationally, when people read the press reports from Oaxaca,from all sides,they must get a very distorted perspective of the situation as it is a very different and uniquely Oaxacan assertion of values,principles and creativity that has consolidated over the past year. The Oaxacan non- partisan assertion of community and culture on the scale that has evolved over the past year unfortunately has invoked the ire of the sector of the community that is terrified that this will destroy Oaxacas ‘reputation’ and paralyse tourism in Oaxaca. The only thing that is threatening tourism in Oaxaca is the actions of Ulises Ruiz’s administration.

The gentrification projects in Oaxaca are misguided and conterproductive. The people of Oaxaca have every right to challenge the use of public funds to destroy the fabric of theircity.

For people from abroad do not come to Oaxaca to experience bland tacky pop-opera concerts by european artistes(as was recently staged in the Guelaguetza stadium as part of Ulises’ ironically titled ‘Humanitas’ festival) Nor do they want to have a coffee in a zocalo patrolled by police baton which has had its original ornate stonework,wrought-iron benches and grand old trees removed. They will not enjoy sitting at the beautiful and relaxing blue and white ceramic tiled 7 Regions fountain anymore because it no longer exists. It has been replaced,at great public expense, by a peculiarly ugly and supremely impracticalconcrete and stone block monstrosity -the wall of the fountain is now about 2 metres high,so you would have to be an athlete to sit and chat at this fountain.. As I write this, I realise that the majority of Ulises ‘improvements’ are targeted at all the public communal social areas of Oaxaca city…

The beautiful old doors of one of Oaxacas principal churches were unnecessarily removed(possibly illegaly) and replaced by new,’moden doors…again using public funds. Perhaps all this is no coincidence, as these parks,fountains,trees are not just recreational,they are all locations that the people of Oaxaca have used as communal,social gathering points for a very long time…

The very values,be they cultural, social or environmental, that the people of Oaxaca are working so hard to protect and defend, are the embodiment of what actually brings tourists to Oaxaca.

The sooner the tourist-focused element of Oaxacan society realise this crucial fact, the better. The APPO and the brave citizens of Oaxaca are not its adversaries, they are its guardians.Viva Oaxaca.