- ABOUT US Approximately 250,000 Oaxacans migrate to northern
Mexico or the United States each year, and close to 1.5 million
live in the United States—a significant percentage for a state
whose population is 3.8 million. Also, despite evidence of
decreased cross-border migration, the economic pressure pushing
Oaxacans to leave remains excruciatingly high: 17 years after
the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
76% of the Oaxacan population lives in poverty. These statistics
and more were brought to life on a delegation I participated in
with the organization Witness for Peace from October 4-12. We
not only saw the massive push to migrate north, but also the
myriad forms of resistance to this economic imposition from
above: from people anchoring themselves to the rich and vibrant
traditions in Oaxaca’s isthmus region; from communities, civil
society organizations, and even the state government actively
looking for economic alternatives to migration; and from an
entire parrish in Matias