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This Sunday, nearly 88 million voters will head to the polls in what has been called the biggest election in Mexico’s history. 3,416 positions will be determined, including the president, governors, mayors, and representatives. From Oaxaca, Services for an Alternative Education A.C. - EDUCA reflects on what’s at stake. 1. Whatever the outcome of elections on July 1, this political…

In the central valleys of Oaxaca, there exists a silver and gold mining project named San José. Since 2008, this project has produced a permanent emergency situation in the municipality of San José del Progreso. That year, the mining company Fortuna Silver Mines corrupted the municipal and agrarian authorities in order to install their mining project. In spite of the…

In Geneva, during the 37th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council, Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, presented his report on the official visit to Mexico. In his speach, Forst said that Mexico has become one of the most dangerous country for human rights defenders (HRD), in particular women human rights defenders.…

On Wednesday, November 22, Mexican civil society groups addressed the European Parliament in Brussels, demanding the suspension of renewed trade negotiation between the European Union and Mexico until the protection of human rights can be guaranteed. “The agreement should not be signed so long as the Mexican Government fails to demonstrate its willingness to fulfill human rights,” said Olga Guzmán,…

In a joint message released on November 1, the Foreign Affairs Ministries of Mexico and France declared that critical updates to the EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement will soon be finalized. Authorities insist that the modernization of the 17-year-old pact, which is part of the Global Agreement, will enable greater access to Mexican products in the European Union as well as…

Juchitan is known for its Day of the Dead celebrations. In any other year, the streets of the city centre are crammed with vendors selling the yellow cempasuchil flowers and fruits that are used in the rituals. This year, the celebrations are much more modest. In the indigenous Zapotec language, which is spoken by most in the city, the traditions…

Shortly before midnight on September 7, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale—the strongest to hit Mexico in a century—radiated out from its epicenter in the Gulf of Tehuantepec off the country’s southern coast. Indigenous and farming communities in the marginalized states of Oaxaca and Chiapas bore the brunt of the destruction, with 99 deaths in…