Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Politics, Travel & Tourism, tagged Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Copa Mundial 2018, El Tri, fútbol, Mexican elections, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, soccer, World Cup 2018 on July 2, 2018| 2 Comments »
Last night, AMLO’s victory brought the sights and sounds of celebration to Oaxaca.
This morning, Mexico’s World Cup loss to Brazil brought the sights and sounds of silence to the city.
The highs and lows of life in Oaxaca over the course of twelve hours.
Posted in Culture, Politics, Protests, Sports, Travel & Tourism, tagged ¡Engage Oaxaca!, ¡Familias Unidas!, El Tri, immigrants, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, presidential election, protests, refugees, World Cup 2018 on June 27, 2018| 6 Comments »
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?
Posted in Culture, People, Sports & Recreation, tagged Copa Mundial 2014, El Tri, fútbol, Guillermo Ochoa, Memo Ochoa, Mexico, Mexico vs. Brazil, Mexico-Brazil, soccer, Sweetwater Music Hall, World Cup 2014 on June 17, 2014| 6 Comments »
This afternoon, the headline of Noticias announced, “Oaxaca paralyzed by Mexico-Brazil match.” It goes on to report that zócalo restaurants offered drink promotions and there were cries, sighs, applause, and prayers as people were glued to the TV monitors and their mobile devices.
I, too, have caught World Cup fever. I’m relatively new to fútbol/soccer (my sons played American football), but began learning during Mexico’s march to the Gold during the summer Olympics two years ago.
Still in California, today I was one of the Millions of U.S. Soccer Fans … Cheering for Mexico. Friday, I watched Mexico’s 1-0 (should have been, 3-0) defeat of Cameroon by myself, albeit from the comfort of my younger son’s living room (he was at work). However, for today’s match against Brazil, I headed to Sweetwater Music Hall and their ginormous screen.
It was a full house and cries, sighs, applause, and prayers were evident there, too. I’d say the crowd was 60-40 for Mexico, though some of the Brazilian contingent was particularly vocal. Our (El Tri’s fans) hopes rose when Chicharito FINALLY came into the game, but in the end, the score remained nil-nil. No scoring? No, but it was a great game and Mexico’s goalkeeper Memo Ochoa played the game of his life.
Immediately following the game, Memes Hail Guillermo ‘Memo’ Ochoa’s Remarkable Saves for Mexico vs. Brazil. I was going to try to add to it, by putting his face on an airborne Moctezuma during Danza de la Pluma, but I don’t have Photoshop on this computer. Anybody? Chris???
¡¡¡ #VamosMexico !!!
Posted in Celebrations, Sports & Recreation, tagged El Tri, fútbol, futbol Mexicano 2012, Gold Medal, Mexico, Mexico national football team, Oaxaca, Olympics 2012, photographs, photos, San Francisco Ixhuatán, soccer on August 11, 2012| 2 Comments »
Congratulations to the Gold Medal winning Mexican fútbol team!!! With all the bad press Mexico continues to be subjected to, El Tri, as they are known down here, has provided México with a much-needed and well deserved win.
Reuters photo
The TV is showing celebrations in the streets of Mexico City, Guadalajara, and other major cities, but (surprisingly, at least to me) all is quiet in Oaxaca. I watched much of the game while eating breakfast with my neighbor at Del Jardín, on the zócalo. We arrived 10 minutes before the game began and were able to sit right in front of one of the televisions. The restaurants had been packed for the Mexico vs Japan game — maybe it was today’s 9 AM start. I watched the end of the game at home, but no bells rang, no horns honked, and I only heard one shout. After the medal ceremony, I went back out. The streets still were still emptier than usual. A few buildings had hung flags.
And, these guys were driving around waving a flag and beeping their horn, but that was pretty much it.
Maybe tonight there will dancing in the streets…
By the way, if you watched the game, you heard the name of midfielder Javier Aquino Carmona (#11) frequently mentioned. Aquino is from San Francisco Ixhuatán, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region of Oaxaca.
Update: This just in from Noticias… apparently some celebrating was being done up at the Fuente de las Ocho Regiones, 25-30 blocks NE of the zócalo, and gathering point for many marches into the city center.
Mexican Peso Converter
View From Casita Colibrí 
Heart and soul
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Economics, Politics, Protests, Sports & Recreation, tagged Copa Mundial 2014, El Tri, fútbol, Francisco Goldman, graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, political commentary, soccer, street art, urban art, World Cup 2014 on June 23, 2014| 4 Comments »
What a game; three goals in 10 minutes in the second half!!! Another thrilling win by El Tri advances Mexico to the next stage in World Cup 2014. They struggled and needed a little help from their “friends” in el norte to even play in Brazil. However, against all odds, this team exhibits a gutsy and tenacious heart and soul that can’t help but have people rooting for them — much like the country of Mexico, itself.
Mural under fútbol stadium in Oaxaca – Dec. 2012
Francisco Goldman wrote an op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times. His article, “Fooling Mexican Fans,” relates the current politics of Mexico, the “bread and circuses” diversion of the World Cup, and the notion that El Tri might exemplify all that is inspiring and hopeful in the Mexican national character.
Goldman’s op-ed begins…
The day before the Mexican soccer team’s thrilling underdog tie with the World Cup favorite, Brazil, last week, the lead editorial of the news site SinEmbargo was titled, “Ready for your Clamato and Gatorade?” — common hangover remedies. “In about three weeks, when you wake from your World Cup dreams,” the editors wrote, “remember that when the soccer fest began, the country was on the verge of monumental decisions. If upon waking, you realize that the country’s energy reserves have been cheaply sold off or whatever else, don’t bother protesting because this is a chronicle foretold.”
To debate and pass laws that could open Pemex, the nationalized oil company, to foreign investment, the Mexican Congress scheduled legislative sessions from June 10 to 23, dates precisely coinciding with you know what. Final passage might be pushed back, but it originally looked like it was supposed to happen on Monday, when Mexico plays Croatia to decide which country advances to the elimination rounds.
As I wrote previously, Mexicans have been Expressing the outrage since last year, when Mexico’s newly elected president Enrique Peña Nieto (initials EPN), from the PRI party, first made the Pemex energy “reform” proposal.
Graffiti seen on a wall south of Oaxaca’s zócalo, May 23, 2014.
Goldman goes on to discuss this and other “reforms,” the role of the PRI, and the current overall political climate in Mexico. However, as dismal as it all sounds, he ends on a hopeful note…
There has been much talk lately about the way the style of soccer teams manifests national characters. I don’t know if that’s true. But when I look at the Mexican team which, after barely even qualifying for the World Cup, has been playing so well, I see a team without stars — a gritty, hard-working, pretty humble, resourceful, creative, disciplined, joyous, friendly-seeming group of players who seem to be learning to play the game as it is meant to be played.
These are values that we see enacted and re-enacted all over Mexico, and in Mexican communities elsewhere, every day. Someday Mexico will get another chance to vote the PRI away and to restart the long process of building the country from the ground up. It could do worse than take some inspiration from its national team.
Absolutely, those are the values I, too, see exhibited in Mexican communities both in Mexico and the US. There is hope for the future — and not just on the pitch! I encourage you to read Goldman’s op-ed in full. In the meantime, Mexico vs. Netherlands on Sunday at Estadio Castelao Forteleza. ¡¡¡ VAMOS EL TRI !!!
h/t K Hackbarth for the article
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