View From Casita Colibrí

It began this morning, as la Selección mexicana took the field in Russia for game three of their Group F stage.  Even with two victories under their belt and leading their group, the people of Mexico held their collective breath.  During the game, you could hear a pin drop in Oaxaca.  I swear, the buses that usually grind their gears and emit clouds of exhaust on Crespo, were few and far between.  El Tri held off a tenacious Swedish team in the first half, but it all fell apart in the second and the green, white, and red lost.  The Mexican World Cup team and the country had to rely on South Korea to knock Germany out of the Copa del Mundo and assure Mexico goes on to the next round.  Every tenth person I passed this afternoon seemed to still be sporting the team jersey, but nobody was smiling.

Oaxaca de Juárez — June 27, 2018, 7:00 PM

Today is also the last day of electioneering in Mexico — no more campaign materials are to be distributed, no more surveys disseminated, and no more robo campaign calls (gracias a dios).  Mexicans go to the polls on Sunday, July 1 for Mexico’s biggest election in memory.  Not only is a new president to be elected, but also 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies, 128 members of the Senate, 8 governors, and the mayor of Mexico City.  And, coming on top the deadliest year in Mexico’s history, 2018 has also been one of the most violent campaign seasons in recent history.  Tonight, final campaign rallies are being held all over the country, including one next door in the Plaza de la Danza — filled with amplified speeches and heavy-on-the-bass pounding music.  Let’s hope we awaken only to World Cup scores and not rising political violence tallies.

However, in the midst of all this, gringos gathered this afternoon to attempt to come up with a plan to show our opposition to the inhumane actions by the United States government and our support for all peoples escaping violence and in search of a better life for their families.  If you are in Oaxaca, on July 5, at 3:00 PM, there will be a peaceful protest in front of the U.S. Consular Agency under the slogans, ¡Todos Somos Migrates!  ¡Familias Unidas — No Divididas!  For more details, see the ¡Engage Oaxaca! Facebook page.  By the way, for a little background on the reasons men, women, and children are risking their lives to flee their home countries, I highly recommend, So we’re gonna pretend these refugees aren’t a result of our actions in Central America?