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Saturday, September 16, 2006
News of home troubles immigrants in valley
Rising violence makes return undesirable

By Leigh Gomez
Poughkeepsie Journal

With Oaxacan government officials in hiding and police fleeing the city, Poughkeepsie residents from Oaxaca, Mexico, said they may never return home.

For some residents that decision is not a choice, it is their only option.

Most of the immigrants moved to Poughkeepsie for job opportunities and a better life. Other residents, such as Raymundo Ojeda, 33, wanted to make enough money to return to their homeland.

Ojeda moved with his wife to New York in 1995 hoping to save enough money to move back to Mexico and build a house. The couple planned on staying in the states for about five years.

But as violence and lawlessness increased back home, Ojeda and his family found their stay in the United States stretching beyond the five-year mark.

Militants take over

Militants with clubs roam Oaxaca, raiding government offices and dragging out employees who refuse to leave. Barricades and torched vehicles block the streets. Police have fled the city, and the governor is in hiding. The once-beautiful downtown is covered with revolutionary graffiti.

The antigovernment rebellion raging in this city of 256,000 is the most serious in a series of protests that have rattled Mexico, fueled in part by a bitter July 2 presidential election. Officials are meeting to try to work out a truce.

"There are less jobs, more crimes and an increase in gangs," Ojeda said.

He hears about the chaos firsthand from his parents, who live 20 minutes from Oaxaca (pronounced wah-ha-kah). His parents make sure to return home early when visiting the city for fear they will get locked in.

Now Ojeda, an employee at the Giselle Panaderia Mexican Bakery, is focusing on building a life for his wife and two daughters in Poughkeepsie.

"We have a better life here," Ojeda said.

The siege in Oaxaca, 210 miles southeast of Mexico City, began in May as a teachers' strike but snowballed after Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz used tear gas and riot police against the demonstrators.

Groups lend support

Since then, dozens of leftist groups have rallied to the teachers' side and are demanding the governor resign. They have formed an umbrella group, the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, or APPO, and have seized control of the entire city.

Oaxaca is the capital of a state of the same name. It's an impoverished, mountainous region peppered with tiny Indian villages.

The conflict quickly became a rallying point for radical political parties, student activists and trade unionists. It also attracted local "people's organizations," groups that represent squatters, unauthorized street vendors, gypsy cabdrivers and other outlaws.

Oaxaca is in a peculiar state of occupation. During the day, the few remaining tourists, mainly young European backpackers, browse through handicraft stalls.

Officials said to be in hiding

A few miles away, club-wielding militants from APPO's "mobile brigades" systematically invade government offices and drive out employees. The governor and Legislature are in hiding, reportedly moving among hotels and private homes on the outskirts of town.

At night, militants mount barricades all over the city. Earsplitting booms from signal rockets echo over the downtown all night. One boom means to be alert for government forces, two booms means imminent danger, three means a barricade is under attack.

Petty crime has soared, especially at night, because police have fled the city. The militants have torched several police cars along with more than a dozen city buses.

The clashes and demonstrations have exposed simmering discontent in Mexico, especially in the poor South. About 40 percent of the country still lives beneath the poverty line and wages have not risen much despite six years of relative economic stability.

Desire to return

Despite the violence, many Oaxacans plan to return home.

Resident Ian White, 24, who moved from Oaxaca to Poughkeepsie to live with his twin brother three months ago, said there are more job opportunities in the United States.

"There is no money for my parents, three brothers and sister back home," White said. "We need to go back and see the family."

Money isn't the real reason why the Whites want to return home in three months.

"There is nothing better than where a person is born," White said.

For White, the love of his country is indescribable.

"We are happy there; we can't change that," White said.

Gannett News Service contributed to his report. Leigh Gomez can be reached at lgomez@poughkeepsiejournal.com