In Oaxaca state, Mexico, residents are hosting town assemblies to take coronavirus prevention into their own hands. They’ve voted to extend measures beyond the country’s restrictions. Now, some communities have erected barriers and are standing guard at community access points.
It’s 6 a.m., just before sunrise, but the residents of San Isidro del Palmar, a community on the southern tip of Oaxaca, are already busy. Men dig holes for concrete posts that will hold up chain barriers that limit access to their town. Then they join with women from their community to guard against an invisible enemy.
This scene has played out repeatedly along Oaxaca state’s coastal region, where towns and neighborhoods have taken the fight against the coronavirus pandemic into their own hands.
Going beyond the Mexican government’s measures, these communities have erected barriers to keep out visitors or anyone unfamiliar. Their urgency and unity reveal how vulnerable Mexico’s smaller towns and cities have felt during the pandemic.
Their actions grow out of a bottom-up culture that gives all adults a say in key community decisions.
We decided to set up these barriers so that visitors or outsiders wouldn’t be coming in, says José Manzano, the San Isidro del Palmar community representative. Every measure we’ve applied has been by community agreement.
Mexico announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, at the end of February. As of June 27, the country had 208,392 confirmed cases and 25,779 deaths. The barriers and community guards remain in place after the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that rocked this region on June 23.
In early April, the city of Santa María Huatulco, about 52 kilometers (32 miles) northeast of San Isidro del Palmar, confirmed the first COVID-19 case in the coastal region. Known for beaches with brilliant blue-green water, the coast also lures tourists with bioluminescent bays, razor-edged cliffs, dolphin and whale sightings, and some of the world’s best surfing.
These communities swung into action. As they have for decades, leaders gathered their people for town assemblies. They typically convene over more prosaic issues, such as whether to approve the construction of a building or the repair of a water pipe. This time they met to decide how to fight a potentially deadly foe.
In other parts of the state, municipal authorities had imposed barriers, breeding confusion, resentment and resistance. These coastal towns wanted to choose for themselves.
Families sent representatives, and anyone older than 18 could take part, as residents sought consensus and voted. They chose the barriers.
Many towns use chains at main entrances and lay down concrete posts at secondary access points. Rules for communities vary, depending on the choices of their town assemblies. And those rules evolve. Some towns, for example, initially closed their entry points for days, only to realize that was too restrictive. Others opted for selective entry.
Still, not everyone likes the measures. Critics worry that some residents come in and out, although they technically should stay at home.
2020 Global Press Journal.