Oaxaca Part II
When we left the US we weren’t sure if we should go to Oaxaca or not due to the political unrest of the past year, where a teachers strike and protest for the removal of the Governer of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz, led to Vincente Fox sending federal troops into the city. As often happens, the strikers were dispersed, detained, and in some cases beaten and raped. Many of those detained are still in custody without lawyers or trials. Much of what I read about the situation came from the protestors and probably has a bit of a bias, but I’m sure it is not without merit and much is backed up by video.
The US state department had issued a warning to travellers to avoid the area, but in December (after the troops had broken up the protests) said that it was safe to travel here. Additional research online would only tell us that Oaxaca was safe for travellers, but not whether the people of the city wanted visitors.
For a couple of reasons, we ended up deciding to go. One consideration was route—we spent so much time exploring Michoacan that we need to get a move on to avoid the hurricane season in the Carribean (we are already too late to avoid the rainy season). Secondly, our roommates in Seattle spoke of Oaxaca with such fondness that we both felt like we knew the city already.
In Oaxaca, we found many tourists, mostly Mexican, French and German. The people we talked to (mostly employed by the tourist industry) said the city in general was pretty tense at times, but as long as you avoided certain areas it was always safe.
Much of the conflict is over the rights of the indigenous people, who have been recieving the short end of the stick since the arrival of the Conquistadors. Subcommandante Marcos, the leader of the Zapatistas in Chiapas, has been working on a united effort to bring attention to the plight of the indigenas all over Mexico. You can read more about these issues at narconews.com.
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