Juchitán de Zaragoza
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Juchitán de Zaragoza (Spanish name; Isthmus Zapotec: Xabizende /ʒàbìˈzěndè/) is an indigenous town in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. With 166,000 inhabitants (2006), it is the third largest city in the state. The majority of the indigenous inhabitants are Zapotecs and Huaves. The town also serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name.
Juchitán is famous for being the first Mexican town to elect a left wing pro-socialist municipal government in the 20th century, when Leopoldo de Gyves won the elections for mayor in 1980 against the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
The people of Juchitán have led some local revolts over time: In 1834, "Che Gorio Melendre", a native of Juchitán, directed a revolt against the government of Oaxaca, demanding the control of salt mines on the coast located at the southwest of Juchitán and for local autonomy of the county. The revolt was interrupted by the Mexican-American War in 1847. Irregular troops commanded by Melendre joined the resistance against the invasion. After the invasion by the United States, the governor of Oaxaca, Benito Juárez responded to the local demands of Che Gorio Melendre on May 19, 1850 by sending troops to burn the city of Juchitán and to assassinate their leader Melendre.
On September 5, 1866, during the French invasion of Mexico, the indigenous people of Juchitán, Unión Hidalgo, San Blas Atempa, and Ixtaltepec defeated the Royal French Army stationed in Tehuantepec. Most of the army of Porfirio Díaz, later the dictator of Mexico, were natives of Juchitán. José Fructuoso Gómez, nicknamed Che Gómez directed a 1910 revolt in support of the Mexican Revolution, allied with Zapata and Villa. In the 1970s, a group of left wing students, workers and farmers organized with the intent of taking control of the local county through elections, instead of by force. In February 2001, Juchitán municipality received the caravan of Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).
The violent history of Juchitán involves the strategic geopolitical location of the area, which is located on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the thin part of Mexico between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The zone has been coveted by many countries since the McLane-Ocampo Treaty, which was signed in December 1859. Under the treaty, President Benito Juárez received a loan in exchange for the use of the isthmus of Tehuantepec by the United States. In 1970s an attempt to resurrect the treaty, called the Alfa-Omega project, was aborted. In 2000, the project was finally approved as the Plan Puebla Panama.
Citizens of Juchitán have also made contributions in the arts, such as painting, poetry, music, folk dance, and sculpture.
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