Oaxaca's Afro-Mexican Communities Get a Festival of Their Own

Twelve delegations brought music, masked dancers and coastal traditions to Chacahua Isla on Monday for Oaxaca’s first Afro Guelaguetza, a festival organizers called La Rejunjuneada, loosely meaning “the get-together.” The event gave Afro-Mexican heritage its own stage for the first time. It drew a crowd to a lagoon-side community where most residents are Afro-descendant.

It’s a notable shift in how the state presents its culture. Afro-Mexican communities have long joined Oaxaca’s better-known July Guelaguetza, which brings together traditions from across the state. Collantes, an Afro-Mexican town on Oaxaca’s coast, sent its Dance of the Devils delegation to that July festival. But La Rejunjuneada carved out a separate celebration, rather than a slot inside the broader statewide show.

The Event

Chacahua Isla sits in the Costa Chica, a coastal region spanning Oaxaca and Guerrero and a historic heartland of Afro-Mexican culture. A procession along the lagoon and through local streets kicked things off. Performances followed on a stage beside Chacahua Lagoon.

The host delegation opened with the Fandango de Varitas. Another community performed the Turtle Dance. Two groups offered their own interpretations of the Dance of the Devils, described as a highly representative expression of Afro-Mexican culture. Dancers wore horned masks and stomped and leapt to the music.

Enid Azucena Torres Agustiniano also took part. This summer, she became the first Afro-Mexican woman chosen as Goddess Centéotl, the main Guelaguetza’s cultural ambassador.

What Officials Said

The festival marked Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican People’s Day, an Oct. 19 observance established in 2013. Officials said the communities involved had long lacked recognition.

Gov. Salomón Jara Cruz went beyond the pageantry. Recognition of communities’ histories, he said, must also translate into rights, justice and opportunities. That’s a bigger promise than a festival can keep on its own, and it’ll be measured by what state government actually delivers after the dancers go home.

Villa de Tututepec Mayor Eder Muñoz Peña took a more local view. He described the municipality’s Chatino, Mixtec and Afro-Mexican roots, saying the celebration represented historical justice as well as cultural pride.

The Numbers

The census data shows why these communities matter locally. In Mexico’s 2020 census, 8.6% of Guerrero residents and 4.7% of Oaxaca residents identified as Afro-Mexican or Afro-descendant. Nationwide, the figure was 2%, according to Conapred, the federal anti-discrimination agency. Those figures are now six years old.

Why This Matters:

Cultural festivals are easy to applaud. The harder question is what follows them. Governor Jara Cruz tied recognition to rights, justice and opportunities, and that framing sets a standard the state will be judged against. Afro-descendant residents make up a far larger share of Guerrero and Oaxaca than of the country as a whole, so any gap between symbolism and tangible progress falls hardest on the Costa Chica. A dedicated festival can bring visitors and attention to a coastal community, a practical benefit for local businesses and tradition-bearers who’ve operated largely outside the spotlight. But lasting gains for these communities will depend less on official observances than on whether local economies grow, institutions treat residents fairly, and families can build opportunity on their own terms.