Oaxaca

AP Correspondent Romero Fired But Damage Done

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Those of us who have been living here through the teacher strike have been yelling our heads off about the misreporting of Rebeca Romero on the Associated Press Wire Service that were picked up by local media throughout the United States. Turns out she apparently had a conflict of interest.

Romero’s reporting did damage to tourism here by implying that the streets of Oaxaca were running with blood. The AP said it fired her for her reporting on Oaxaca.

Tranquilo Oaxaca?

Posted on by Laughingnomad

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.
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Dual Pricing

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Found a hilarious travel article on Bootnall today about the luxury tax…or dual pricing for foreigners as it is called:

The Luxury Tax – Asia, Europe, South America
By: Adam Jeffries Schwartz
The following is a guide to how the luxury tax is levied, worldwide.

ASIA
China has the highest tax in the region! Charging a hundred times the regular price is typical. If you negotiate at all, they will stand two inches in front of your face, and scream You PAY, you PAY NOW.

Note: Exactly!!!
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Atenco Foreshadowed Oaxaca

Posted on by Laughingnomad

A brutal repression and massacre of resistors by federal and state police in the small city of Atenco, 15 miles south of Mexico City, in May of 2006, foreshadowed the repression that was to follow June through November 2006 in Oaxaca. Government forces were attempting to crack down on some flower vendors that they assumed were associated with activists demonstrating against government acquisition of communal land for an airport. A “>video on YouTube is the best (graphic) depiction and explanation by analysts and historians that I have seen so far…with English subtitles…of the machinations the government has historically used in Mexico:

A Mexican-American friend who was a student in 1968 in Guadalajara, told me that when students were demonstrating in the soccer stadium in Mexico City , police snipers killed some soldiers to make it look like the students had done the shooting. Immediately, police opened fire on the students…killing hundreds.

In July 1975 the army evicted squatters from a section of Oaxaca City, herded them into buses and imprisoned them overnight while what remained behind was burned. According to Murphy and Stepick in Social Inequality in Oaxaca…a History of Resistance and Change 1991 “the state director of the federal public works agency masterminded the invasion in order to increase his political power by recruiting support among the urban masses (against the demands of the poor). The director’s plan had been to convince the owner of a large tract of land to relinquish a portion of it in exchange for the introduction of streets and water on the remainder of his extensive holdings. The agency’s director used university students with ties to the Communist Youth Party as intermediaries to implement the plan.”

Sounds familiar. A plan sure of alienating the middle class from the dissenters.

Taco Surprise

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Yesterday, after a leisurely visit over coffee at the Nueva Mundo coffee shop in the Centro with Sharon, I drove out to Plaza del Valle, past the University, to Oaxaca City’s northern style shopping plaza which is newish…built within the last five years anyway…which sports a Burger King, Office Depot, Sam’s Club, Sears, Pizza Hut and a street full of upscale car sales showrooms, grocery stores, a movie multiplex, a French department store much like Nordstroms…even a Blockbuster video rental outlet. Not what you think of when you think of Oaxaca is it?

A few days earlier, I had taken Joe to Mailboxes Inc, to pick up a shipping box for his return to Chicago in April. Parked in front, I figured, oh the car will be alright so the one and only time I have my car unlocked in Mexico, for less than five minutes, guess what happens? Some guys sitting on the sidewalk (maybe waiting for a suspect) lifted my car tool bag out of the back! So off to Sears to buy a new set of jumper cables after which I wandered through the mall in search of lunch.

In the food court, I stopped at a taco stall and ordered tacos with those fantastic green onions that taste so sweet after they have been charred on the grill. An order included six tacos for $1.60. Not realizing they were only about five inches in diameter I said, oh, muchos tacos! The girl responded with quite a bit of espanol rapido… ending with the words “medio de orden” or half an order. Ok. Sounded good. When the girl set the food in front of me I see a styrofoam plate with six grilled green onions and a few wedges of limon. “No tacos?” I ask. She made a half sign with her hands. So I had half an order…the half with the onions!

Family of Brad Will To Visit Oaxaca

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Family of Murdered Independent Journalist Brad Will to Visit Mexico City and Oaxaca

According to a press release issued by the family of Bradley Roland Will, the independent US photojournalist shot and killed last October 27th in Oaxaca, they will visit Mexico from March 19th to March 23rd, 2007. The purpose of the Will family’s visit is to push for a legitimate investigation into Brad’s murder and to insist that the responsible parties be held accountable.

The family says they hope that their inquiry will help at least 20 other families who are seeking justice for their murdered relatives.

Watching Calderon

Posted on by Laughingnomad

“I know I am running risks, confronting strong forces,” he said on the presidential jet. “But I think the key to life is to live it intensely.”

He is making many promises as did Fox. And no mention of taxes. We’ll see.

These are bits from the International Herald Tribune today about Calderon’s presidency 100 days after the Dec 1 election that many here consider fraudulent:

“I enjoy my work as president,” he said during an interview aboard his official jet on Friday, his eyes bright behind rimless, technocrat glasses. “With all the problems and tensions, which are enormous, I am fulfilling a personal dream for which I have prepared all my life.”

The new president cracked down on violent protests that were tearing apart the colonial city of Oaxaca.

(Note: the only violence in the city was perpetrated by government thugs who have killed upwards of 20 people. The protests were peaceful.)

He has sent troops and federal agents into several states to combat drug cartels. He also extradited several high-level drug kingpins to the United States.

And this week he took a strong stand in meetings with President George W. Bush, re-establishing Mexico’s historic diplomatic neutrality in the region and firmly criticizing the United States for its immigration policies.
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Where Are The “Disappeared?”

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Latest news in Oaxaca:

The Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH has formally confirmed that the “violence” in Oaxaca was carried out by the ministerial, state and federal police troops, thereby agreeing with the complaints of the APPO regarding violations of human and civil rights. The commission acknowledges “excessive use of public force.” 20 dead…366 arrested…381 wounded. It does not mention the disappeared. There was torture, arbitrary arrest, executions, irregular judicial procedures, etcetera. -all against citizens who were either in the wrong place a the wrong time, or engaging in their right to march and protest.
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Zocalo At Night

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Intimidating, the Governor thought the tourists would feel safer with them there…among other political reasons.

Gone from the Zocalo are the PFP with their menacing night sticks and bullet-proof vests and their rifles and sidearms…for shooting and for tear gas. Although the night before, Steve said, a large group of State police were gathered at one corner of the Zocalo…apparently responding to a rumor.

Gone are the teachers and the banners including one huge picture of Marx, Engles, Trotsky…and STALIN! Always meant to go up and ask the kids under the banner if they knew anything about Stalin who killed 30,000 of my husband’s German compatriots in the Ukraine by forced starvation. And that was the least of it. People buried food to give them a little extra time before the expected end. I have been unable to trace any remaining relatives through genealogy channels any further back than Bob’s grandfather who immigrated into Saskachewan Canada and then North Dakota.

Last night, balmy and breezy, Steve, Oscar and Ana’s mother and boyfriend and I took a leisurely walk to the people-filled Zocalo for dinner at the Jardin. The Oaxacan cheese-stuffed chili rellenos with salsa roja was a D. Every night there is entertainment…last night, about 10pm, after a music recital, just as we were leaving, they were setting up for dancing within a large circle of chairs. The restaurant’s marimba players were hauling out their instruments for another evening in front of the sidewalk tables. A hilarious clown was readying his routine.
A bit afraid we might get pulled in to be the straight guys, we headed home. Besides Oscar was tired and that means trouble.

I shall have to venture out more at night before the teachers return for their annual strike in May. Besides, back in the States, there will be no more late night/early morning forays into the lovely lively outdoors…unless you live in New York City in the summer.

One thing I want to know, though, is why the roosters never know what time it is in Oaxaca!