Politics
It was a riveting time to be in Oaxaca. I arrived on election day in one of the most contested battles in state history. The gubernatorial race pit PRI candidates Ulises Ruiz against Gabino Cué of the PAN, each backed by a coalition of other parties randomly patched together. (While the PAN is more business dominated, they had support from the Greens and indigenous-right party!)
With only one percentage point separating the results calculated by Sunday,
the entire week was dominated by each candidate, and his supporters, declaring
their victory. This took the form of TV advertisements were each man declared
himself the true governor, spirited speeches, and most visibly, rallies
and protests. Traffic was jammed day and night with slow moving parades
of honking cars, pedestrian marches, and victory brass bands.
The election is widely reported to have suffered from voting fraud, including
voting booths with six legs behind the curtain and tortillas offered for
votes. While Ulises eventually won, Gabino filed a lawsuit to contest
the results. But it is sadly the people of Oaxaca who really the lost
yet another fraudulent race.
Right before the march supporting him, this banner for Gabino was fastened
to Oaxaca’s main cathedral.
While logical enough there, can you imagine if a banner for Pataki was
hung on St. Patrick’s?
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Candidate signs were in every tiny hamlet, along all roadways, painted onto walls and rocks.
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My first night into town, desperately hungry, I stumble into the first of many “victory” marches. This one was for Ulysses on election night. The pouring rain didn’t deter mobs from coming out while Ulysses and his wife made speeches inside a truck, with at least an hour of marching around the main square behind a brass band afterwards. It was a very exciting way to land in the capital.
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Exactly a week later, this was the last, and by far the largest, demonstration
I saw. Despite the scorching midday sun,
around 40,000 people streamed into the capital to rail against voter
fraud and champion their pick: Gabino.
It ended with speeches and the usual brass band.
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There were lots of pointed signs…
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And speeches…
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The young and the old…
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Families…
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Campesinos…
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And vendors capitalizing on the thirst of this hot, tiring day.
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Outside the electoral sector, there were informal encampments fir indigenous
rights stationed in many public squares.
Oaxaca housed many of these sites treated with both curiosity and contempt.
Friends I asked said they’d been up for weeks.
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