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The southern Mexican state of Oaxaca just hosted one of the most important cultural festivals in Latin America: the Guelaguetza which draws visitors from around the globe is a carefully stage-managed showcase of local cultural traditions It's also a major boost to the local economy — ticket prices start at the equivalent of $50 That’s way out of reach for many people in Oaxaca but you have to stand in line for hours to get one But there’s another celebration that’s also become a Oaxaca tradition: the alternative festival known as the People’s Guelaguetza and organized mainly by a dissident teachers' union that’s been battling the government for years the street processions with costumed dancers brass bands and giant puppets look like many traditional parades here known as "calendas." Then you see the banners with slogans like "no forgiveness nor forgetting," and hear the chants calling for political prisoners to be released Participants see this alternative festival as more in touch with Oaxaca's actual indigenous cultures than the famous one is The word "Guelaguetza" is Zapotec for a system of mutual aid and generosity that plays a crucial role in the social fabric of many indigenous communities “I think it’s necessary to rescue the real meaning behind the Guelaguetza The Guelaguetza isn’t about the commercialization and selling of the indigenous person as a registered trademark,” said Salvador Aquino a teacher and a member of the delegation of dancers and musicians representing the town of Miahuatlan de Porfirio Diaz in this year’s alternative parade “That’s what the real Guelaguetza is all about: coming together as brothers and sharing.” The teacher-organized processions are marathon street parties that snake through downtown neighborhoods and gather thousands of participants over the course of hours Some residents line the streets to cheer; others throw candy or confetti from their balconies offering mezcal in tiny plastic cups to fellow parade-goers A few stake out corners and hand out free food as the procession goes by Yaneri Castro and two helpersparked along the parade route recently to give away tacos filled with hard-boiled eggs and seasoned rice They’re part of an environmental club for elementary school-aged children and their parents in the nearby city of Villa de Zaachila Castro says they made enough food for 500 people paid for by donations sent by Oaxacan migrants living in the US Sharing food is a way to support those who come to the festival “So that they don’t give up the fight,” she said The "fight" is an ongoing struggle over a series of free-market "structural reforms" that are being implemented by Mexico’s federal government — in particular a change that is supposed to make Mexican teachers more accountable Educators in the largely indigenous states of Oaxaca Guerrero and Michoacán have been protesting the measure for years now and with particular intensity in recent months The demonstrations turned deadly in mid-June after state and federal police opened fire while attempting to clear a highway blockade near the town of Nochixtlán The deaths sparked a debate about whether to even hold an alternative festival this year “People worried that holding the festival would be like mocking the dead,” said one teacher from Nochixtlán we concluded that going ahead with the event was a way of paying homage to the dead instead.” The killings in Nochixtlán have added a new set of demands to the conflict between the dissident teachers and the federal government It’s unclear at this point if the dispute will affect the start of the new school year later this month But at least for the duration of the People’s Guelaguetza the teachers shifted from protest to shoring up social connections and celebrating Oaxaca’s rich cultural heritage — without charging an entry fee delivered to your inbox every weekday morning Thanks to our sponsor PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402 There are 59 main opium poppy-growing municipalities across six states according to a new project that mapped production of the illicit crop in Mexico one of the world’s largest heroin producers Produced by Noria Research in alliance with Mexico United Against Crime, the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and the magazine Espejo, the Mexico Opium Project determined through data analysis that the efforts of the National Defense Ministry to eradicate poppies between 2003 and 2019 were concentrated in 59 municipalities in three large regions Twenty-nine are located in the northwestern region that includes parts of the states of Chihuahua Among the municipalities are Ocampo and Guadalupe y Calvo in Chihuahua Culiacán and Badiraguato – the municipality where convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was born – in Sinaloa Canelas and Topia in Durango and La Yesca and Compostela in Nayarit Twenty-three of the municipalities are located in the southwestern region which encompasses a group of Guerrero municipalities and two in Oaxaca Chilapa and Chilpancingo in Guerrero and Coicoyán de las Flores and San Martín Peras in Oaxaca Its municipalities are Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz The report said the mountainous geography of the three regions is similar with elevations of up to 3,400 meters in the southern and southwestern regions and up to 3,200 meters above sea level in the northwestern region It said that on average one hectare of opium poppies was recorded as destroyed in the 59 municipalities for every 38 hectares of legal crops planted between 2003 and 2019 Presented on Wednesday, a section of the report entitled Why is opium production crucial to better understand the War on Drugs in Mexico? noted that poppies have been cultivated in the Golden Triangle region of Chihuahua Sinaloa and Durango for over 60 years and for almost 40 years in Guerrero “This activity is deeply integrated into society between 70% and 95% of the population – men activities directly or indirectly related to opium,” it said which is also based on 15 months of fieldwork in opium-producing states also said that the army reported destroying poppies in 835 of Mexico’s 2,465 municipalities between 2003 and 2019 That means that poppies have been grown in at least one-third of the nation’s municipalities government affirms that in 2016 Mexico had 32,000 hectares of opium production which increased to 44,100 in 2017,” the report said the report also said that heroin produced in Mexico is exported almost in its entirety to the United States and Canada where it represents around 90% of the consumption market While opium gum prices plummeted in recent years partially due to the rise in popularity of the synthetic opioid fentanyl The Mexico Opium Project estimated that growers are currently paid up to 21,000 pesos (about US $1,000) for a kilogram of opium paste The report said “illicit economies constitute one route for escaping from a subaltern position in a context of chronic economic and social crises in the Mexican countryside.” much of the money generated is captured by legal and illegal intermediaries This means that the fantastic profitability of the final product has an almost null structural impact on inequalities Many poppy growers say they are forced to cultivate the crop due to a lack of other opportunities and government support. Farmers in Guerrero have appealed to López Obrador to legalize the cultivation of opium poppies for use in the manufacture of legal pharmaceuticals The president indicated earlier this week that the government is prepared to consider legalization of the crop for that purpose “With regard to the commercialization of marijuana and poppies the decision has been taken to initiate a thorough analysis of these crops considering that [the growers] are being left behind and they’re being used for the production of [illicit] drugs,” he said Interior Minister Olga Sánchez, who said before the current government took office that López Obrador had given her a “blank check” to explore the possibility of legalizing drugs as well as any other measures that could help restore peace to the country said in January that legalization of poppy production for medicinal purposes was possible “This opiate could be regulated by legislation so that we can obtain all kinds of medicines,” she said Guerrero Governor Héctor Astudillo supports legalization of poppy production which he says could help to reduce violent crime but an initiative to that end has stalled in the state Congress ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC #EquipoEMP llena de color y alegría con el festival del Día del Niño en la Quinta Sección DIF estatal y DIF Juchitán celebran a la niñez en la agencia «Playa Vicente», con entrega de juguetes Tras recorrido de regada de frutas, el gobierno juchiteco realiza limpieza en calles principales Del chat criminal a la fosa: así fue ignorada la activista Sandra Domínguez Ley de Telecomunicaciones amplía el financiamiento de radios indígenas y pueblos afromexicanos Fallece uno de los 4 bebés que fueron trasladados por falta de insumos y medicamentos del Hospital IMSS de Matías Romero Todo para el turismo / Columna de ERNESTO REYES Turistificación en Oaxaca / Columna de ERNESTO REYES Batallas /Columna de ERNESTO REYES Comparte Xoxocotlán tradiciones, cultura y gastronomía en el “Jueves de Gozona” Fiscalía de Oaxaca asegura inmueble del Instituto Dolto tras quemaduras a alumnos Escríbenos a: portalpagina3@gmail.com © Página 3 | Todos los derechos reservados