Oaxaca

6.2 Earthquake in Oaxaca

Posted on by Laughingnomad

About 20 minutes after 2am last night, my friend Paula and I felt a pretty strong but momentary earthquake that woke us both up.

Reuters already had an article posted by 5:30 this morning in the NY Times.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck near the town of Pinotepa Nacional around 80 miles (125 km) southwest of the colonial city of Oaxaca, but police patrols checking surrounding towns did not report problems.

The USGS reported the quake as strong as magnitude 6.5 but later revised the figure to 6.2, also moving the epicentre slightly.

I have felt several of these here before but so far so good.

Comfort From Morning Tai Chi

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Early each quiet Sunday morning, sitting on my veranda, I watch a small group of people practicing their Tai Chi in the park below. This morning I ponder my birthday tomorrow.  How did I get to be 66 already? Then I see the old blind homeless guy who sleeps in the park.

Surreal Senility Or Sneaky Sane?

Posted on by Laughingnomad

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This cartoon originally appeared on womensEnews.org.  Check out more of the New Yorker cartoonist’s work at lizadonnelly.com (“How I Do and Don’t want to be Helen Thomas.”) and on her Open Salon blog.

89 year old Helen Thomas, a virtual institution in the Washington Press Corp, when ambushed by a rabbi, growled that Israel should get the hell out of Palestine and and that the Israelis there could move to Poland, Germany and the U.S.  Wow! Talk about speaking truth to power! It was too much for PC ears to take and she resigns her political column. The Washington press corps is pondering taking away her front row seat where she has needled presidents for generations. Hmmm.

_______________________

I have recently endured flights from Bangkok to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Oregon, Oregon to Las Vegas, Las Vegas back to Oaxaca where I live. Right now, I don’t care if I see another airport or security line as long as I live. You don’t think jet lag combined with culture shock doesn’t turn the world into more of a surreal event than it already is?

Combine this with two months of demonstrations with round-the-clock fireworks, rockets, petrol bombs and gunshots and then three days of riots where 30,000 tires turned Bangkok black and 25 buildings were burned down…one of them Asia’s second largest mall…more than 90 people killed and a couple thousand injured…over 400 arrested and 200 disappeared…a volcanic eruption in Iceland that brought air travel to a halt nearly the world over and almost detained my dentist for weeks, floods, earthquakes, tsunami warnings…an outrageous “oil spill” that is surreal in itself. Add to that bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan killing hundreds. A video  released by Wikileaks.com shows a U.S. helicopter attack on a group of people in Baghdad (and also their good samaritan rescuers) in which they were all killed including two Reuters journalists. Looked like a surreal video game except that it was horrendously real. Then a vicious Israeli attack on a Turkish flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza by taking in supplies to the Palestinians. Helen Thomas conveniently took that off the front pages. (News junkie that I am, it’s a good thing I don’t have TV.)

Then Las Vegas, surreal in itself, where my son spent a week telling me all about the coming world financial crisis…backing it up with all his audio tapes by “renowned economic experts.”  Having read about the German bail-out of the Greeks and fear that Spain and Italy will follow, and with our debt in China’s hands it sounded rational to me. Buy gold and silver and get out of the market my son tells me. But…but…Come live with me in Oaxaca, I said, where people already live like people in the U.S will in the future.  It’s called self-sufficiency.

Finally it feels weird to be back in a relatively tiny slow Oaxacan pueblo after six months in Bangkok and Hong Kong.   70,000 teachers are striking again and a caravan to a barricaded Trique village in the mountains suffered the shooting death of a Trique woman and a Finnish human rights worker by a rival Trique group aligned with the government.  The weirder thing is that the demonstrators in Bangkok wore red T-shirts and the Triques wear red ethnic dress…at least the women.

A few days ago I took a nap about 3:30 in the afternoon. When I woke up, feeling quite refreshed, I went into the kitchen and checked the clock. 6:30, it said.  Oh my gosh, I thought, I slept clear through the night…not an uncommon occurrence these days! So I made coffee, toasted a bagel, and went out onto the veranda to check my email.

As I was sitting there facing the park, I noticed the sky getting dark. Oh, a storm must be coming in, I thought. I went on checking email (most of which are Couchsurfing.com forum posts) and Twitter where I get the latest information on the political aftermath of the Red Shirt rally in Thailand.  When  I looked up again the sky was a little darker…but no wind was coming up as is usual just before a storm, which, btw, took down one of the huge trees in the Zocalo the other day…the crack of it sending people running every direction. Somebody should prune!

So onto my Facebook updates.  By then the sky was really getting dark. I thought about that Mayan calendar that ends in 2012.  I noticed that my friend Rico was on line on Facebook chat so I asked him, Why is the sky getting dark?  He ignored me, however,  and started describing all his latest. Damn. Typical Rico, I thought.  But why is the sky getting dark!  By this time, I was really getting freaked out. RICO! What is going on?!!!  Dunno.  Is a storm coming in?  Don’t think so. It goes on like this.

Serious concern here. Finally I checked the date/time on my computer thinking maybe I didn’t change the time zone from Asia to Mexico…a 12 hour difference. No, it’s ok. Then I noticed the computer said it was Wednesday.  It should have said Thursday. What day is it, Rico? Wednesday, why?

As is obvious by now to my dear readers, in all this time it never once occurred to me that it was 6:30 in the evening.  Damn. Is this what I have to look forward to? Quit reading the news, I hear you telling me.  But isn’t this what senility really is?  Thoughts wondering aimlessly…alone…among their own disconnected damaged brain cells…oblivious to the world?

I take heart, though, from 89 year old Helen Thomas, who, btw, I think is sneaky sane. Me? Dunno. At 66 it doesn’t look good.

Back Home in Oaxaca

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Whew!  What a ride! A week in Vegas, a month in Salem Oregon, a week in Hong Kong, 5 months in Thailand (4 in Bangkok and a month on Koh Samui) a week in Hong Kong again, 2 weeks in Salem, 10 days in Vegas and now back home in Oaxaca. Right now, I don’t care if I see another airport again!

Oaxaca is in the middle of an historical heat wave. Am I still in Thailand? Three fans on in my bedroom at night. Oh where is that Thai A/C?! Too hot to go grocery shopping!  (Maybe I’ll lose some weight.) Tomorrow I’ll just water my plants and drink what’s left of my Arizona Iced Green Tea.  And then take a nap.

Mexican Independence Day In Oaxaca

Posted on by Laughingnomad

A friend who saw the parade into the Oaxaca City zocalo this A.M. said it was similar to all  military parades he has seen in the US and elsewhere, and by that standard, quite good. I didn’t go, so have no photos. I did however, watch the fireworks through my open sliding glass living room doors.  Noticias will not publish on Thursday because national law “compels” vacation days” for newspapers, so since Noticias came out today it will honor its no-print day tomorrow.

No one shot, wounded or jailed! That makes headlines, although I heard that some APPO people who wanted to protest were knocked around by the police, and so were the photographers taking their pictures.

URO, the Governor, had on hand 1500 cops, some in uniform and some plain clothes. He delivered the Grito dressed in a  New York-Miami suit, standing on the balcony of the former government palace now a museum, waving the Mexican flag.

A friend reports that in Zaachila, a nearby pueblo, one of the strongest movement towns, there were two Gritos delivered, one official by the municipal president Noe Perez, and the second alternative-popular. Azael Santiago Chepi, Sec General of Section 22 gave the alternative Grito speech. He is quoted as calling on the people to prepare themselves for the coming revolution  “which does not necessarily  have to be armed, but is a transformative consciousness raising force of the people to achieve a better level of life in all areas”.

Chepi was backed by the Zaachila Education Front which consists of 19 education institutions in the municipality , which chose girl students  to perform the national anthem  and one of them shouted the Vivas, which after the historic figures ended ¡Viva Mexico! ¡Viva Zaachila! ¡Viva el Frente Educativo Zaachilense!

In his speech Chepi added that people have to prepare themselves for the great revolution awaiting us. “it is the struggle that we teachers have to wage in every community: awaken the consciousness of our students, find solidarity with the parents, contact the true governors of the peoples such as the great grandfathers or councilors of elders, because the movement is in the phase of gathering force…. diversity makes us stronger, ideological concurrence makes us stronger too, to find points of agreement in this battle against the repressive governor; we have to prepare ourselves  because more complex situations are approaching where surely we will know how to reply to whatever aggression.”

He commented on the police presence in the Oaxaca capital zocalo which was “to gurad an attempt at a festivity which is not of the Oaxaqueños, but to the contrary, is put in play by all the repressive forces that reside in the state; likewise public plazas in the entire country because of the Mexican government´s fear of social dissent which day by day becomes generalized in the face of evident failure of neoliberal policy.”

The Merida Initiative and the Brad Will Case

Posted on by Laughingnomad

After living here and watching events unfold since 2006, this is one (not small but easy) thing  that would not only protect the life of one unjustly incarcerated man, but the human rights of thousands of others in Mexico.

The case of JUAN MANUEL MARTINEZ MORENO, incarcerated for the murder of Indymedia journalist Brad Will in Oaxaca October 2006, is being railroaded by the Mexican government in Oaxaca.

Moreno’s next court hearing to have the case dismissed for lack of credible evidence will be held in Federal court in Oaxaca IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

Significantly, case of Brad Will’s murder was singled out by the U.S. Congress when they passed the 1.4 billion funding bill for the Merida Initiative in July 2008 (popularly called Plan Mexico to help Mexico fight the “drug war,”) calling in that bill for “progress in conducting a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation to identify the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice” as a condition for 15% of the funds. Read More

“Free Speech” in Mexico

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Note from Nancy Davies, expat in Oaxaca:

Ernesto Reyes Martinez, an editor for Noticias Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca and radio correspondent for the program Hoy por Hoy” on radio XEW, was grabbed by members of the 9th Infantry Battalion, subjected to violent handling and held for an hour and a half. This occurred at 9:30 AM on Monday July 20. Reyes was not involved in any criminal act. He was riding in his car with his wife, trying to take photos with his cell phone of men of the State Investigative Agency (AIE). The newspaper Noticias says he was taking photos of “an unusual event” when he was stopped. The unusual event seems to have been an extortion attempt (police do this to get bribe money) operating on the highway. The first press release (July 21) indicated that extortion was involved;  the second article, put out by the National Commission for Human Rights and the National Center for Social Communication, (CENCO in its Spanish initials)  focused only on Reyes.

I am assuming that since Reyes is affiliated with Noticias, the account they printed is his.

Combining accounts,  Reyes observed five individuals chasing a man on a bicycle. The chase vehicles made the bicyclist stop. Reyes got out of his car and took photos with his cell phone camera. His car was thirty meters from a military post, a check-point on highway 190 which inspects vehicles for drugs and guns. However, at that moment the barrier was not operating because the soldiers were inside eating breakfast.

After he was stopped, 14-18 armed soldiers appeared and arrested the police participants in the chase. Reyes and Reyes’ wife were as also detained. Everyone was held in the military encampment, where Reyes’ cell phone was confiscated.  Reyes identified himself and told the military he is a reporter. In addition to his personal cell phone they also took his work phone which belongs to Noticias. The illegal detention lasted an hour and a half while he remained incommunicado, although his wife was released after half an hour without her cell phone.  According to the first report, Reyes’ personal identification was also retained.

Weapons of the AIE police were also confiscated. The police were released,  along with another  presumed accomplice in extortion who had been taken earlier, after the State Attorney General’s office came to get them.

After Reyes and his wife were released,  the reporter lodged a formal complaint with CENCO,  which responds to aggression against reporters.

In 2009, up until June 30, the 147 acts of aggression against free communication registered with CENCO  (i.e., national numbers) included five murders, six demands to stop (reporting or broadcasting), 32 intimidations and threats, 10 attempts to harm, 46 physical assaults, and 14 kidnappings. These figures indicate a rise in crimes against the news media and reporters.

In 2008, 223 cases of obstruction of speech and communication occurred through direct and indirect aggressions. Thirty-six radio stations were smashed.  85.1% of the attacks were against journalists; 14.7% were against media. The states which had the highest incidence of crimes against reporters and news media were the Federal District (Mexico DF) with 15.3% , followed by Oaxaca with 11.7% (this data is from Informe Buendia 2008). In third place  was Veracruz with 9.9%, then Chiapas with 7.2%, then Tamaulipas and Hidalgo with 4% each. The northern states’ media also get threatened not only by government agents but also by narcotraffickers.

In addition to Ernesto Reyes, Manuel León López of the News Agency “Reflexión Informativa Oaxaca” was recently attacked, on April 2, 2009.  In fine rhetoric,  state director of the Convergencia political  party, Mario Arturo Mendoza Flores, demanded an immediate halt to actions “orchestrated by the government of Ulises Ruiz against reporters dedicated to freedom of expression and against the media they represent.”  Taking advantage of an opportunity to attack the rival political party of the PRI, Mendoza Flores said ,  “This constitutes a clear demonstration that the only form of governing that Ruiz Ortiz has left to him is the billy-club and deployment of many police wherever he is or will  pass; therefore the  ordinary Oaxaqueño who has a tranquil conscience endures fear and difficulty in moving about.… If recognized journalists suffer this type of aggression, you can imagine what happens to ordinary citizens.”

Some military personnel may not know how to read (or understand the significance of) Reyes’ identification; soldiers are often recruited from the very lowest level of national education, and they are not well trained either as soldiers or as readers. Possibly the military didn’t distinguish Reyes from any other person. They beat up on everyone; that’s normal.

And where have the extortionists gone?

Tlaxiaco

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Back from a cool refreshing weekend in the mountains!

Tlaxiaco (IPA: /tla.’xia.ko/) is a Nahuatl name containing the elements tlachtli (ball game), quiahuitl (rain), and -co (place marker). It thus approximates to “Place where it rains on the ball court”. Its name in the Mixtec language is Ndijiinu, which means “good view.” Population about 20,000. 600 taxis…most of them illegal.

The city is formally known as Heroica Ciudad de Tlaxiaco (“heroic city”) in honour of a battle waged there during the 1862–67 French invasion.

Three and half hours in a comfortable van into the Mixteca Alta northeast of Oaxaca City with my friend Paula who has been here this past year teaching English to second graders in a private school. We met friends Max, Sandy and Budd there who came up the next day. Stayed in a beautiful recently remodeled hotel across from the plaza with a huge German clock installed in 1947…one of several in the Mixtec area…and it was working and on time!

Saturday was the weekly rotating market day so the plaza was full of vendors selling just about everything possible that began setting up 4-5am…including outside my hotel window I might add. Side streets full of women vendors selling huge pots of posole, chicken soup, big fat tamales, memelas, atole, cafe de olla (sweet coffee made in a pot…we called it sheep camp coffee when I was growing up). I bought a big pottery casserole with lid for 30 pesos…about $2.50 and a smaller one with lid for 20 pesos.

Toward evening we took a taxi ride up a hill so we could look out over the valley…stopping for blanco mescal for Max (ugh) before heading back to the hotel and something to eat.

Sunday, after a buffet of chilaquilles, beef burria, scrambled eggs and ham etc etc…and some of the best Mexican hot chocolate we’ve ever had, (the coffee tasted like dishwater as my mother used to say) Paula and I walked up to the house where Lila Downs, the famous Oaxacan singer, grew up…Paula knowing them because she had spent several weeks in the village during college.

Paula had wanted to see an old friend who owned a tienda…but about 20 days before we got there he had been drinking and fell and hit his head and died…a sad disappointment. But we had several nice conversations with other locals some of whom had worked in the states before and wanted to practice their English.

Then we took another taxi ride through the valley before scrambling on the van back to Oaxaca City…Sandy and Budd having gone on before us.

Quiet and friendly, none of us wanted to leave.

4th of July Picnic in Oaxaca

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Yesterday the Oaxaca English Lending Library sponsored a picnic at the home of one of the expats.  Great thick hamburgers…with dill pickles even!  Baked beans, potato salad and homemade pies…blackberry among them even!

On the way there, along a winding dirt road, we passed a raggedy little kid…about 6…on an old bicycle…with a little piggy mask on!  A heart-warming sight not to forget.

The mid-term elections are being held today so no alcohol sold yesterday or today.  Same in Thailand as I remember.

Today I am going with my friend Gerardo to Mica and Bardo’s in Huayapam again today for a party.  It is son Pavel’s graduation from secondary school to high school and Angelita’s graduation from primary school to secondary school.  Gerardo is taking mescal.

Always something happening in Oaxaca.

Honduran Refugees

Posted on by Laughingnomad

July 4, 2009
Immigration News
Coup Tests Mexico’s Refugee Policy

The military coup in Honduras is providing an unexpected test of Mexico’s immigration and refugee policies. On Friday, July 3, dozens of Honduran nationals arrived at a church-run migrant shelter in the southern state of Oaxaca seeking refugee status because of the political situation in their
country.

Alejandro Solaline Guerra, spokesman for the Mexican Episcopal Conference, said a group of Hondurans sought assistance at the House of Mercy inCiudad Ixtepec on the Tehuantepec Peninsula. The migrant advocate said the bishops’ organization will contact the National Migration Institute to request refugee status for the Hondurans under international law.

“Migrants from a country in a state of war should not be denied refugee status,” Solaline declared.

The Honduran political crisis could aggravate an already-conflictive situation in Mexico’s southern border region. Despite the international economic crisis, thousands of Central Americans and other Latin migrants continue crossing the country’s southern border en route to the United States. Along the way, migrants remain a favorite target of corrupt Mexican officials and bands of organized criminals.

A report from Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) last month documented the kidnappings in Mexico of nearly 10,000 Latin American migrants, mainly from Central America, from September 2008 to February 2009. At least 157 women were among the victims; two women were murdered and others raped, according to the CNDH.

In the latest case to the hit the national press, the Mexican Army and law enforcement officials from Tabasco and Chiapas states detained 8 alleged kidnappers last week. A Honduran national, Francisco Handall Polanco, was among the group of alleged Zetas gang members arrested. Accused of holding 51 migrants against their will at a ranch in Tabasco, the group reportedly demanded ransoms reaching $5,000 from family members in return for releasing loved ones.

Once in the hands of authorities, migrants from Honduras and other nations are usually quickly deported. Emilio Chavez, director of the pro-migrant Sin Fronteras organization, charged that Mexico maintains a “double standard” when it comes to  migrant issues. While pressuring the United States to improve its treatment of Mexican migrants, Mexico fails to protect Central Americans within its own borders, Chavez contended.

If the Honduran crisis drags on, Mexico could see greater-than-expected numbers of migrants on its southern border. The Mexican Episcopal Conference’s Solaline said more Hondurans are reportedly on their way to Oaxaca. Identified only as “Janet,” an 18-year-old Honduran already in Ciudad Ixtepec described the situation in her country as grim.

“Schools are closed and the hospitals have no medicine,” she said, adding that electricity and propane gas shortages were also a problem.

Sources: La Jornada, July 4, 2009. Articles by Octavio Velez, Emir
Olivares and Angeles Mariscal. El Universal, July 4, 2009. Article by
Oscar Gutierrez. Cimacnoticias.com, July 3, 2009. Article by Alejandra
Gonzalez. CNDH.org.mx

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico

And of course many of those Honduran immigrants who manage to get across the Mexican border will end up in the U.S.