# Oaxaca, Mexico, heating up again **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 19, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457 "2007-07-19T23:03:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/1 "2007-07-19T23:03:45Z")
Last year there was [a series of civil disturbances](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Oaxaca_protests) in Oaxaca, Mexico, lasting seven months and resulting in at least 18 deaths, including an American journalist. It began as a teachers’ strike – an annual event in Oaxaca – but escalated to a general protest, almost a rebellion, against the state administration. (See [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=394562) thread.) Everything seemed to have calmed down – but [Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulises_Ruiz_Ortiz) still refused demands to resign, and the [Popular Assemby of the Peoples of Oaxaca](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asamblea_Popular_de_los_Pueblos_de_Oaxaca) has been staging periodic protest marches since January 2007. Up to now, these demonstrations have been peaceful. [Last Monday, however:](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601598.html) > [@](#): > > Police fired tear gas Monday to prevent hundreds of leftist protesters from reaching the venue of an international folk festival in Oaxaca, in the worst outbreak of violence in the troubled Mexican city since November. > > Protesters hurled rocks and burned vehicles as they sought to march to a stadium where the renowned Guelaguetza festival is scheduled to start July 23. Police responded with tear gas and rocks. > > Some protesters said they only wanted access to the stadium to hold an “alternative,” non-commercialized version of the festival, while others vowed to block the event entirely. > > \ > > “About 200 people wearing masks and carrying sticks, stones and bottle rockets began to provoke the police,” the Oaxaca state government said in a statement. “The police repelled the attack using tear gas.” > > The Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights, which has sided with Oaxaca protesters in the past, accused police of “brutally beating” the demonstrators and roughing up several reporters. > > The league said about seven people were detained, and eyewitnesses said several were hit by flying rocks and tear gas canisters. > > State public safety secretary Sergio Segreste said 30 people were arrested and 15 policemen injured, but offered no information on injuries to protesters. So now what? Is the whole thing going to start over again? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/2 "2007-07-19T23:07:07Z")
Their pot used to be considered primo. It got a centerfold in High Times. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/3 "2007-07-19T23:25:25Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Their pot used to be considered primo. It got a centerfold in High Times. [/QUOTE] I only wish more of the locals were smoking it! Might calm things down a little! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/4 "2007-07-19T23:49:26Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I only wish more of the locals were smoking it! Might calm things down a little! [/QUOTE] So might better conditions for their workers. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/5 "2007-07-19T23:53:50Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] So might better conditions for their workers. [/QUOTE] Yeh . . . that too . . . But Governor Ortiz’ resignation would do more than either to calm the waters. Why can’t he consider the public good?! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/6 "2007-07-20T14:38:40Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] But Governor Ortiz’ resignation would do more than either to calm the waters. Why can’t he consider the public good?! :mad: [/QUOTE] It’s Governor Ruiz. And I think he doesn’t resign because first, he considers himself the rightful Governor, and considers reigning to be submitting to mob violence, and second, because the PRI doesn’t like the PRD, and the PRD is backing and bankrolling APPO. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/7 "2007-07-20T22:06:09Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Their pot used to be considered primo. It got a centerfold in High Times. [/QUOTE] Truly insightful contribution! Considering your ideology and username, I would have thought you would take the subject a little more seriously… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/8 "2007-08-02T18:42:05Z")
Update: [A bomb just exploded outside a Sears store in Oaxaca.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080100983.html) No one was injured. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/9 "2007-08-06T13:20:25Z")
A co-worker recently returned from Oaxaca. He says that things there are crazy. One friend of his who is known to be an APPO supporter has gone into hiding. Another friend is terrified that her four teenaged sons will be targeted by the police. Apparently, the police are picking up anyone who _looks_ vaguely suspicious, including men with long hair. ---
**Author:** ![Mapache](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Mapache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mapache)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/10 "2007-08-07T18:24:02Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Update: [A bomb just exploded outside a Sears store in Oaxaca.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080100983.html) No one was injured.[ It came out yesterday that the “bomb”, and another like it left in front of the Banco Nacional de Mexico, was nothing more than a bundle of fire crackers. No damage was done, and even Ulyses Ruiz’s toadies are only calling it “an explosive device” now. As far as I can tell, everything is calm at the moment, although there are a few soldiers and federales hanging around the shopping mall where Sears is located. Lots of people are disgusted with what the Guelaguetza-[http://www.oaxacainfo.com/guelaguetza-oaxaca.htm-](http://www.oaxacainfo.com/guelaguetza-oaxaca.htm-) a world renowned dance festival that has been officially celebrated since 1939, and has roots going back to pre-Columbian times- has become: a showplace for the PRI government, with all the best seats reserved for potbellied members of the ruling party and their overdressed wives, and ticket prices for the seats that are left completely out of reach for most Oaxacans. So the protesters tried to either shut the festival down, or at least open it up to locals, and they did manage to discourage almost all foreign tourists from coming (the hotel owners association claimed 45% occupancy, instead of the usual 90something percent during the festival) and I have seen no tour groups at all around the Zocalo. Anyway the Guelaguetza is over for this year, and we will see what happens to tourism when the Dia de los Muertos and Christmas arrive. But basically things seem to be calming down. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/11 "2007-08-07T19:03:19Z")
I remember reading on here about the disturbances last year, and found it hard to reconcile with the friendly, laid-back town I remember from visiting in 2003. Sounds like those involved in the tourism trade are really taking a hit, **Mapache**? ---
**Author:** ![Mapache](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Mapache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mapache)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oaxaca-mexico-heating-up-again/412457/12 "2007-08-07T22:00:50Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] I remember reading on here about the disturbances last year, and found it hard to reconcile with the friendly, laid-back town I remember from visiting in 2003. Sounds like those involved in the tourism trade are really taking a hit, **Mapache**? [/QUOTE] They are. Tourism is Oaxaca’s main source of (legal) income, and it’s been essentially ruined for now. And it isn’t just the hotels and restaurants; lots of small businesses depend on their customers’ earning their living from tourism, and so a lot of little shoe stores and taco stands and so on are closed. Which depresses the real estate market, the wholesale food market, and even doctors and dentists and private school teachers and so forth. But of course the governor doesn’t care; his income is assured and he’ll leave office with several tens of millions of dollars stashed away (the last governor now owns, among a lot of other things, the biggest country club in town, a string of drug stores, the Italian Coffee Company franchise for the state, and the international airport, which he privatized for himself just before leaving office.) But really, Oaxaca is safe for foreigners, and there are all sorts of bargains available for travelers. Not to mention that September/October are the best months for weather, birds, and wildflowers; so if any of you dopers are feeling adventurous and have vacation time coming, think about visiting. You can email me if you want any specific information. M