By Diana Denham

The first Monday of the Guelaguetza festival, which takes place every July in Oaxaca, was cancelled last week for the first time since its inception in the 1930s.

The Guelaguetza, which is the most important touristic event of the year, is a festival that celebrates folkloric music and dance from Oaxaca's seven regions. Described in tourist guides as "one of the most colorful celebrations in the Americas," it has also been criticized as a "Disneyland" version of reality and an exploitation of indigenous culture to the extent that it can be commodified and marketed by the state.

The Teachers Union, whose 70,000 members have been occupying the streets of Oaxaca since mid-May, as well as the Asamblea Popular del Pueblo Oaxaqueño (APPO), announced weeks ago their intention to boycott the Guelaguetza as part of their protests to demand the resignation of State Governer Ulises Ruiz. They insist that the state-sponsored Guelaguetza represents a "waste of economic resources that only benefits big business, owners of hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies...not the Oaxacan people" ("Crisis en Turismo", La Jornada, July 8). Several days before the Guelaguetza's "First Monday on the Hill" was to take place, protestors seized buses to use as roadblocks and prevent access to the auditorium. A group of masked people, who the APPO claims not to be allied with, also burned platforms and caused serious damage to the auditorium.

Despite the protests and an estimated 700,000 pesos in damage to the auditorium, the Secretary of Government continued to guarantee that the festival would go on as scheduled, until July 17th, when Ulises Ruiz oficially cancelled the event "to avoid risking the safety of Oaxacans and national and international tourists" ("Se Suspendió la Guelaguetza para evitar Conflictos", Universal, July 17).

On the following Monday, July 24th, the Teachers Union followed through with their promise to hold an "Alternative Guelaguetza of the People" in the Oaxacan Technological Institute in which 20,000 Oaxacans and tourists attended. They presented various traditional dances from all seven regions, including some that had never before been presented at the state-sponsored Guelaguetza.

Enrique Rueda Pacheco, a leader of the Teachers Union, announced that the success of this alternative festival demonsrates "that we have the capability not only for political acts but for also cultural events and to recover the history of Oaxaca" ("Maestros reúnen 20 mil asistentes en la Guelaguetza alternativa", La Jornada, July 25).