Oaxacan Leader Meets in L.A. with Expatriates

Immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca welcomed its governor, Jose Murat, Saturday as he sought to cement relations with the increasingly organized community of his countrymen in Los Angeles.

More than 100 people attended the gathering held in a lecture hall at the University of Southern California and put together by the newly formed Oaxacan Federation of Los Angeles.

The event was a sign both of the increasing muscle Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles exert on Mexico, and the growing interest of Mexican leaders in pooling migrants’ dollars sent home.

Based in Koreatown, the Oaxacan Federation has worked in recent months to unite Los Angeles’ varied Oaxacan groups, many of which represent small villages back home, to ensure their money has more impact on Oaxaca.

Murat’s visit was intended to seal an agreement with federation leaders to establish a matching fund for migrants’ donations that will pay for public projects in Oaxaca, such as paving roads. Located in southern Mexico, Oaxaca is among Mexico’s poorest states. Its indigenous groups have retained their languages and traditions, giving the region an identity distinct from the rest of Mexico.

A varied group of “Oaxa-Californians” watched the proceedings attentively. They included students, parents with children in tow, older men in white cowboy hats--in short, people who would have blended invisibly into any street in Los Angeles.

Many were laborers who had been forced to flee their home state out of economic desperation. Thanks to the money they send home, they are now in a position to get an audience with the most powerful man in their native state.

The governor’s visit is a sign that Mexican officials “are feeling the force” of migrants’ influence, said Otomi Dominguez, a Los Angeles construction worker and head of the Oaxacan Regional Organization, part of the federation.

Dressed in a black leather jacket and open-necked shirt, the 49-year-old Murat spoke to the group in booming tones with many theatrical flourishes. He praised migrants’ courage, and touted a new state fund to help those facing emergencies on this side of the border.

He also explained that the new “three-to-one fund” would pool three dollars from municipal, state, and federal sources for each one contributed by migrant organizations in the U.S.

“The government of Oaxaca wants to unite our forces with yours,” he told the group.

Fernando Lopez, communications secretary for the federation and the owner of a restaurant in Koreatown, said that, ultimately, the federation wants to use migrants’ dollars from America to spur economic growth in Oaxaca.

In turn, he said, that will solve another problem close to migrants’ hearts. “It’s so that so many people do not have to leave,” he said.