The Global Impact of Local Events: Civil Unrest and Migration in Oaxaca, Mexico

In May of 2007, I interviewed the presidente municipal of Los Arboles, Oaxaca.1 We were sitting in the municipal palace at the center of the community. The town’s plaza was immediately in front of us as was the village church, other community buildings, a small gazebo where the town’s band plays, and a few businesses. The plaza in Los Arboles shows the signs of success that the community has seen over the last few years. It is green and cool, full of flowers and plantings, and even has a working fountain.

These are not improvements funded solely through the success of migrants living in the United States (a story typical in rural communities throughout Mexico); rather, these improvements come from money invested in the town by successful artisans as well as those migrants who feel an obligation to their town. “*

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