Mexico Reporter

Meet my new favorite English language website for Mexican news: Mexico Reporter. The layout is appealing, the writing is great, the site is easy to navigate. And it's actually a Wordpress blog, which, frankly, judging by their results, fills my generic little Blogger template with petty envy.

This post caught my attention, and I went on to read a whole passel of others. In a nutshell, the post summarizes an article from the daily newspaper Milenio, reporting that the government of Oaxaca, after first being accused of not doing enough in response to the murder of American indy journalist Brad Will, is close to successfully closing its investigation. Specifically, "The newspaper report also noted that the Special Prosecutors [sic] Office for Crimes Against Journalists is very close to ‘solving the crime’." Good news, right?

Wait. This, says Mexico Reporter, "will dismay groups lobbying for justice in the case of Brad Will, such as The Friends of Brad Will and the Committee to Protect Journalists."

Here's the disconnect: Even though Will filmed his own murder and that footage is widely available (it's on YouTube; caution, highly disturbing content), and Brad Will and others captured images of his assailants*, word coming out of the Attorney General's office is that Will was killed from a distance of 50 centimeters, not the 30 meters originally supposed. This suggestion is being used, it seems, to support the notion that the journalist was not killed by government strongmen but by a member of the APPO, for reasons as to which we can only speculate (one of the more popular theories I've encountered is that the government means to suggest that APPO operatives, or some fringe element within the group, desperately sought to attract international attention by any means).

I, of course, can't comment on the thoroughness of the investigation, the veracity of accounts on either side of the conflict, or even on the reliability, in the end, of information presented in the videotape. All I can say is the government line is hard to swallow. **

The challenge of filtering information and assessing what to believe is no different in Oaxaca than anywhere else in the world. People with vested interests work very hard to ensure that their interests are met (asses are covered) and that's just a fact of life wherever you go. For me it becomes a little harder here because of my mediocre Spanish: I get the gist of what I read in the newspapers and on Spanish language websites, but the finer points are lost on me. So I welcome Mexico Reporter into my life at a time where I need all the help I can get to just understand the events of daily life as they unfold in Oaxaca and in Mexico.

*Photo published by Narco News with credit to El Universal. These men appear to have been shooting in the direction of Brad Will prior to the footage of his actual death. These men are not seen--as far as I can tell--in the actual footage when Brad Will is struck by gunfire. Here is a link to a longer version of the tape that Will shot, which includes images of the men shooting in Will's direction.

**My uncle, after reading this summer's posts from Oaxaca, called me politically naive. I can hear him choking on his Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger right now: "Jesus Christ! Of course the government is lying!"

Notes on Oaxaca

Tapetas de arenas. Carpets of sand. That's what a friend told me today. In reference to the sand images photographed for my previous post. And el Dia de Muertos is this week, Friday (Thursday too, but less so), not "next weekend" as the post casually mentioned. When I was writing Monday night the holiday still seemed a little ways away, but not anymore. The streets are busy as vendors near the mercado 20 de Noviembre, several blocks from our house, crowd the sidewalks with stalls selling marigolds and a deep red velvety flower which name I do not know (perhaps somebody will tell me tomorrow) and skulls made of sugar, pan dulces (sweet breads) with faces of sugar baked into the crusts, and all manner of garish plastic trinket or toy featuring skeletons or ghouls practicing their arts.

"JUSTICE FOR OUR DEAD"

If the city is in turmoil--and I don't presume that quiet is the same as resolution--it is less obvious to me now than it was this summer. While there are military patrols there is not the same presence of force observed during the Guelaguetza or the August 5 election. While there is still the tug of war between political graffiti artists and the city crews whose job it is to follow with whitewash and rollers, especially in the zocalo and other central points, there does not appear to be, in the past two weeks since our return, the protests, demonstrations, ad hoc public kiosks demanding the release of political prisoners or the further investigation of human rights abuses or the removal from power of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. I'm not saying these things aren't happening, I'm just saying that, for me, they are not as visible as they were in the peak of the summer.

The tone right now to the casual eye is much more neutral, except for all the empty tables in all the restaurants that rely on tourism for so much of their business, which is very nearly all the restaurants in the centro historico. For these owners and employees I can only wonder how much the emptiness is costing in lost profits and wages. I wondered out loud the other day how many empresarios have gone or are going deep into debt in order to keep their businesses running throughout the tourist drought of the past 18 months. And who are the few creditors bankrolling much of the city as the lull endures? The way things work in Oaxaca, I think, there will be three or four very powerful people with their thumbs on all the commerce of the city. Of course when I read about Mexico in general I get the sense it is the same ten families who, when you cut through the smoke and paperwork, appear to run everything, so maybe nothing is so unusual after all.

I haven't been keeping up with the papers since we returned but intend to start reading again soon, now that we're settled. This week marks the year anniversary of the murder of American independent journalist Brad Will, and that's generated its own bit of attention, though moreso outside Oaxaca and Mexico, as far as I can tell, than here in the city where he died (see here to scroll through various posts on the subject). Outwardly things are calm. I am not informed enough at present to suggest what may be going on under the surface.