It seems that Oaxaca is really going through some tough times; teacher strike and post election turmoil. They even cancelled the Guelaguetza dance festival this month. Can anyone tell me from being there what is really going on? Am planning to travel there once again in the spring, but would love an update.

The teacher strike in still going , but they have left the downtown of the city.
The Guelaguetza on the Fortin was cancelled (the one you paid to see), but the etnias decided to held a popular Guelaguetza (free).
The teachers are still making some noise and demostrations (smaller ones) around certain areas of the city.
My best guess is that very soon the conflict will be resolved throught politics, this is just power show off now that a new president has been elected.

I was just there.

As Isela said, "popular" (and political) Guelagetza is going on in an stadium, sort of hard to get to.

Guelaguetza is at Fortin is not happening because the stage is gone.

The Zocalo, while still has barricades, are open to pedestrians. The Zocalo is split between political and street vendors -- the political camp has more than 1/2 of the real estate.

While you see graffiti against tourists, people not directly involved in demonstrations welcomed tourists.

There were political demonstrations still going on but small enough to easily avoid them.

I was there the 6th-13th of this month. There were serious disruptions, e.g. streets blocked, and marches taking place. During the time we were there, for about a one block radius the strikers had blocked the streets leading to the Zocalo and had the barricades guarded by groups of strikers with sticks and pipes to keep out police and most vehicles. These streets were also covered with tarps, with the strikers living there. We stayed at la Casa de La Tia one block from the Zocalo and were initially the only guests. One of the owners told me they had evacuated all the guests when the police in May. Around the Zocalo area, there was grafiti everywhere, broken windows, and the Hotel Marques del Valle had been taken over and trashed by the strikers. There were 100's of protesters on the Zocalo, but while we were there all the cafe's started to open up. There was no police prescense at all in the Zocalo area as the strikers had taken over issuing ID's to strike participants and dividing teachers from various parts of the states into different areas. All this said, we had no problems whatsoever. One night when we stayed to about 11:30 in the Zocalo and the strikers had sealed their barricades for the night, they were more than happy to create and opening for us to leave. Outside of the Zocalo, things are pretty much noraml although buses out of Oaxaca sometimes had to take detours as protesters blocked Fortin Hill and some government offices were surrounded by protesters and closed. We were still able to enjoy ourselves. One of our daughters had been studying there prior to our arrival for a few days and she had no trouble either. With a little creativity we were able to do anything we would have normally done while there. As far as the politics, the goal of the strike has moved from an increase in teacher's pay to getting the governor to step down. It is alledged that during the police attack on the strikers in May that some people were killed. Many locals are very angry about the whole thing as this extended strike is putting a tremedous drain on the economy and hurting many people. Since the time we returned from OAX the reports I get from people I know there, tell me that things are about the same as when we were there. My personal feeling is, that if the strike does not voluntarily end, at some point the goevernment will step in and do what it takes to restore normalicy. If this happens, I expect that both the government and stikers response would be violent and it would be a bad time to be around.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Dude. So sad that the hard fought democratic election's results can't be accepted by AMLO and his "friends".
I think the results are to be officially certified today or tomorrow (or shortly) which may bring out some more nasties.
M

Thanks for the updates and opinions. As someone who brings groups of adolescents down there each year I'll just have to keep up with the news. It is a different situation when you are responsible for other peoples children to Oaxaca.

Having brought groups of teenagers to OAX myself, if the strike continues and if you wanted the Zocalo area to be a significant part of their experience, I would pass. Although I had no trouble while there recently, I would not have wanted to have charge of a bunch of kids. I would have to think, if you are going in the Spring as above, this should be long resolved for better or worse by then.