Feature Archives

In an interview by Christina Aanestad, Dr. Ann Lopez discusses the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and it's impacts on farmers from West Central Mexico. In the interview, Dr. Lopez discusses the story of a 60 year old grandmother who risks asphyxiation to travel across the border to visit her "illegal immigrant" farmworker son. Dr. Lopez also talks about the struggles women migrant farmworkers face in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties and how neoliberal trade policies often force Mexican farmworkers to migrate into California's corporate agricultural fields.

On August 16th, email alerts were circulating that Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and other governors from Mexico were visiting Mexican Consulates in Chicago on August 17th, New York City on the 18th and Dallas on the 19th to discuss migratory reform. Activists quickly organized demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Oaxaca, and all of Mexico, as well as the millions of Mexican migrants living on the northern side of the US/Mexico border. Although Ruiz Ortiz failed to show up with the delegation, the protests went on. The Mexican governors were held responsible for conspiring with the US government and multinational corporations to impose a political economy which forces entire communities to migrate north in search of better lives.

During the night of August 5th at approximately 10 pm, while the votes were being counted that confirmed an Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) sweep of the state legislative elections, five people were taken off the streets of the Zocalo in Oaxaca City by police. Almost 80% of the Oaxacan population abstained from voting, which came as a disappointment for the APPO’s “punishment vote” campaign against the PRI. Police presence continues to be extremely heavy in the streets of Oaxaca City.

On August 5, Oaxacans participated in the state legislative elections. The elections occurred days after a series of bombings throughout Mexico claimed by the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). Many fear widespread fraud similar to what brought Ulises Ruiz to power, while some question the legitimacy of the EPR and worry that their actions will be used as a justification for repression.

Today, August 1st, thousands of women marched in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico, on the one year anniversary of the historic takeover of the Oaxacan television station, Canal 9, by APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca).
On July 30 , tens of thousands of people from the APPO and section 22 of the teacher's union, along with sympathizers, participated in a protest against and demand a popular boycott of the official Guelaguetza festival. This festival has been the subject of conflict since the uprising in Oaxaca began last year. On August 5th, there will be a benefit for human rights work in Oaxaca, at 5:30pm at Station 40 in San Francisco.

Fifty eight members of the 38th Venceremos ("We Shall Overcome") Brigade to Cuba returned to the United States on July 28th. They marched across the "Peace Bridge" that links Fort Erie in Canada and Buffalo, New York. On the US side they were greeted by supporters and welcomed with a picnic. Three of the members of this year's brigade are from Fresno.

On July 16th in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, a confrontation between the APPO (Popular Assembly of The Peoples of Oaxaca) and security forces of the State of Oaxaca as well as Federal Preventive Police has left at least one movement participant dead as a result of police violence, at least 62 detained, and an unknown number of people disappeared. According to an APPO press statement released the same day, the police launched “a broad offense” against the people of Oaxaca who were celebrating an alternative Guelaguetza.