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Viewing cable 06MEXICO4535, MEXICO'S "OTHER HALF"--THE VIEW FROM OAXACA (PART

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06MEXICO4535 2006-08-14 23:15 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Mexico
VZCZCXRO0171
RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #4535/01 2262315
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 142315Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2683
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFIUU/CDR USNORTHCOM
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 004535 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ELAB PINR PGOV MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO'S "OTHER HALF"--THE VIEW FROM OAXACA (PART 
TWO IN TWO PART SERIES) 
 
REF: MEXICO 3574 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Despite the end of PRI rule, Oaxaca still 
lacks a viable economic development strategy and there is no 
effective political leadership or coordinated social movement 
to address Oaxaca's significant needs.  The teachers' strike 
reflects the old way of challenging the government under 
authoritarian rule and offers little prospect of overcoming 
Oaxaca's democratic and economic deficits.  Conversations 
with indigenous groups revealed a sense of disenfranchisement 
and uncertainty about their futures.  This is the second of a 
two part series.  End summary. 
 
Lack of economic development 
---------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) One finds little evidence at the federal, state, or 
municipal levels of promising visions for developing Oaxaca. 
The political economy here is much more about how to manage 
federal funds than how to grow the economy.  According to 
experts, the economy runs primarily on federal transfers, 
remittances, tourism, and inefficient coffee production, and 
exports its lack of productivity via migration.  Only a small 
percentage of Oaxacans are involved in the formal 
economy--which centers on tourism--and even there wages are 
low by Mexican standards.  Educated Oaxacas have a difficult 
time finding jobs.  "Become a teacher or migrate" is how one 
observer characterized the choice.  Within the informal 
economy, subsistence farming and traditional activities only 
barely meet basic needs.  The majority of villages lack 
electricity, running water, paved roads, and adequate 
healthcare and education.  Roughly 75 percent of Oaxacans 
live in extreme poverty, according to analysts. 
 
3. (SBU) Inadequate federal and state funds, government 
corruption, land disputes, and scarce infrastructure needed 
to create jobs contribute heavily to the region's malaise. 
Among most Oaxacans, the so-called "neo-liberal" economic 
model is also blamed, considered biased to the north and 
detrimental to this region's growth.  While the northern 
states have experienced significant economic growth since the 
implementation of NAFTA, Mexico's south has stagnated and in 
some cases real wages have declined.  Reflecting the 
frustration, graffiti along some streets of Oaxaca City reads 
"no to neoliberalism."  Protesters in the capital's city 
square lament an economy in which they say only wealthy 
Oaxacans and foreign tourists have access to the state's 
resources. 
 
Soaring migration 
----------------- 
 
4. (SBU) A Oaxacan migration scholar described a situation in 
which economic development experienced as urbanization and 
non-agricultural employment has devastated parts of rural 
Oaxaca and led to migration levels that exceed 90 percent of 
the population in some villages, turning them into near ghost 
towns.  He told poloff that most other Oaxacan villages have 
experienced migration rates of at least 50 percent of their 
inhabitants.  People living in villages near Oaxaca City 
explained to poloff that the capital's cancellation of the 
Guelaguetza festival (celebrated in July) and associated 
reduction in tourism, which is the major livelihood for many 
surrounding communities, has caused a spike in migration this 
year. 
 
5. (SBU) Conversations with village leaders in the Mixteca 
region revealed that social structures of entire communities 
have been overturned as a result of migration.  Without the 
prospect of significant job creation, experts see few signs 
that migration rates will slow anytime soon.  Indigenous 
communities attribute responsibility to government neglect of 
the region and globalization.  Although remittances have 
helped individual families, the pooling of remittance 
revenues that might allow communities to help themselves 
develop economically appears uncommon. 
 
A view from the indigenous communities 
-------------------------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Beyond recognizing their traditional cultures and 
varying levels of poverty, it is difficult to generalize 
about Oaxaca's indigenous populations.  Oaxaca holds nearly a 
quarter of the total number of municipalities in Mexico, more 
 
MEXICO 00004535  002 OF 003 
 
 
than any other state.  Fifteen language groups and 56 
dialects throughout eight major regions comprise a range of 
ethnicities that lack solidarity.  Identity is heavily shaped 
by geography, with many non-migrants knowing only their 
respective towns and vicinities.  Communities closer to 
Oaxaca City and the coastal tourist resorts tend to be more 
prosperous and outward-leaning than those farther away, with 
the most isolated villages often characterized by extreme 
poverty.  Many villages are run by their own set of cultural 
norms known as "usos y costumbres" (uses and customs). 
 
What these comunities want 
-------------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Despite profound differences between Oaxaca's 
indigenous communities, they share certain aspirations.  The 
right to self-determination and autonomy is an overriding 
theme.  A Oaxaca-based sociologist pointed to the 1996 
Chiapas-related San Andres Accords on Indigenous Rights and 
Culture as an example of the kinds of rights Oaxacan 
indigenous communities wish to see guaranteed.  These 
communities hope to choose their own ways of political, 
social, and economic organization, including their distinct 
forms of local government.  They don't want their sons and 
daughters to have to migrate in order to find jobs.  They 
also want their cultures and ways of life respected and 
protected.  "Above all, we want to live with dignity," 
asserted a Zopotec student. 
 
8. (SBU) Just as they seek autonomy, many communities long 
for greater representation in state and federal government. 
Those who understand their constitutional rights seek full 
access to justice and respect for their human rights. 
Indigenous groups expect the government to provide them with 
adequate levels of health, education, nourishment, and 
housing.  "But we are not looking for handouts; we just need 
technical assistance," an indigenous woman told poloff, 
lamenting the image of laziness she said many Mexicans hold 
toward the indigenous. 
 
9. (SBU) Finding a way out of extreme poverty is a constant 
concern for the poorest villages, and development assistance 
and more equal access to state resources seem for many to be 
ready answers.  "The history of Oaxaca's rural people is one 
of being exploited by the state and federal governments" a 
Huatulco-based scholar on indigenous groups told poloff. 
Most indigenous community leaders believe it should be their 
prerogative, not the government's, to determine the nature of 
development projects, noting that the government seldom 
considers their productive capabilities when designing 
economic programs. 
 
Clashing values? 
---------------- 
 
10. (SBU) The political, social, and economic forms of 
organization in these traditional communities can sometimes 
clash with those of modern Mexico.  These communities tend to 
be patriarchal in their political organization and communal 
in their economic organization, complicating their 
incorporation into Mexico's increasingly democratic and 
market-oriented society.  One significant challenge is that 
"usos y costumbres" often marginalize women and leave them 
out of local political decision-making.  A sociologist from 
the state university told poloff that the world views among 
indigenous people can differ tremendously from those of 
Mexico's more Western-oriented citizens, with concepts such 
as time, governance, and economic progress having vastly 
different connotations.  "The indigenous want better lives, 
but most are not interested in being integrated into Mexico," 
she added. 
 
11. (SBU) Comment: Oaxaca's political and economic situation 
reflects the difficulty this part of the country is having 
adapting to democratic politics and Mexico's opening to the 
outside world.  Globalization and economic liberalism are 
largely misunderstood and distrusted, especially among the 
poor, who sense they are on the losing end of these 
phenomena.  That the indigenous population feels disregarded 
is perhaps less surprising than the lack of major development 
programs being implemented by any level of government to help 
them.  A key stumbling block is figuring out how to safeguard 
the indigenous ways of life when aspects of modern Mexico 
seem at odds with certain political and economic traditions 
 
MEXICO 00004535  003 OF 003 
 
 
of these communities.  So far, Mexico's political parties 
have run away from this dilemma, allowing the south to fall 
further behind economically while migration soars and the 
country becomes increasingly polarized between north and 
south, as evidenced by this year's election. 
 
12. (SBU) Comment continued: Oaxaca's switch of allegiance 
from the PRI to the PRD has been ongoing for years and is not 
surprising given the PRI's mismanagement of the state.  Few 
educated Oaxacan observers believe that the PRD has a 
convincing strategy for developing their state, but they also 
see in AMLO a leader who would not abandon them in the way 
they feel other Mexican leaders do.  Oaxaca's history of 
poverty and political corruption under the PRI has sapped 
most citizens of their trust in state and federal 
institutions, and they long for leadership that will confront 
the challenges of this region seriously. 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity 
 
BASSETT