Charly and I took the long way around to Arrazola about 10 miles south of Oaxaca City where copal wood Alebrijas are made…the most famous craft in Oaxaca. Most of the pieces are carved out of one piece of wood with crude knives…with maybe some wings or a snake or a tongue attached.

The large ones like this cost several hundred dollars.

My favorites were the little geckos for $6 that you can arrange crawling up and down your walls.

On wednesday we went to Zaachila thinking it was market day. Nope…it’s thursday. That will have to wait for another time. But the tejate was great.

On April 11, in a speech memorializing the 88th anniversary of the death of Mexican hero Emiliano Zapata, a leader of the teachers union, Pedro Matias affirmed that the month of May 2007 will bring a series of mobilizations which can include work stoppages at intervals, marches, encampments, and the blocking of public offices on up to a general labor strike, to demand the departure of Governor Ulises Ruiz, freedom for the political prisoners, cancellation of arrest orders and to achieve true justice to make a reality the ideals of Emiliano Zapata.” He said “this is the only way that remains for the people (to fight) against the repression, the impositions, the sacking and the pillage by the state and federal governments.”

I don’t know how long this can go on without even more of a backlash than there already is. As my dentist said, he expects another teacher strike but he doesn’t know if Oaxaca can “resist” another long siege like the last one that lasted 8 months.

A meeting scheduled for April 18 with the federal government is not considered sufficient because the agreements that they signed on October 27, 2006, have not been completely fulfilled. Seven months after signing this agreement, demands such as the rezonification for cost of living and assistance to education, the freedom for the political prisoners and the cancellation of arrest orders against the participants in the popular movement are still pending. And people are still being arrested and disappeared.

After saying that they have had 27 years of struggle and they are not going to renounce the constitutional right to mobilize, the speaker repeated that the state and federal government have had sufficient time to sort out the problems but they have not wanted to do so.”

Emiliano Zapata (August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Salazar in the small central state of Morelos, in the village of Anenecuilco (modern-day Ayala municipality). He was of mixed Spanish and indigenous ancestry. He spoke the indigenous language Nahuatl and was recognized as a leading figure of the largely indigenous Nahua community of Anenecuilco.

A former sharecropper, Zapata became involved in struggles for the rights of the Indians of Morelos. When unrest finally broke out resulting in the Mexican Revolution, Zapata quickly took an important role, becoming the general of a guerrila army that formed in Morelos – the Ejército Libertador del Sur (Liberation Army of the South). Joining forces with Pancho Villa and others to fight the government of Porfirio Diaz, Zapata supported agrarian reform and land redistribution. His rallying cry was “Land And Freedom” (Tierra Y Libertad) sometimes translated as “Land And Justice.”

Though Diaz was defeated, Zapata continued to resist subsequent government leaders. He was ambushed and shot by Mexican troops on April 10 1919.

Zapata remains a folk hero in Mexico, where his name has often been invoked by rebels like the Zapatista Subcommander Marcos. He is often credited with the phrase “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees” and graffiti to this effect was often seen on buildings in Oaxaca during the teacher strike. However it is believed that the saying originated with Jose Marti, a leader of the Cuban revolutionary movement. T-shirts with Zapata’s image abound in Oaxaca markets.

There is another march in Oaxaca City today honoring Zapata with all the usual demands.

On Monday morning March 26, I went to my dentist appointment. The dentist was 45 minutes late. She explained there was a taxi strike and she had had to walk to work. The dust in this country is unbelievable and if I wash it myself with a pan of water I have to get on a ladder to reach the roof of the Land Cruiser. So I drove to the Periferico where I knew there to be an automatic car wash. But when I got to the big intersection at the Pemex station, the road was blocked with at least 50 taxis. So couldn’t come back down the same street to get back home. Had to turn right and follow a slow snaking line of cars around neighborhood after neighborhood for an hour to find a way back.
Read More