Ever been to Oaxaca -- I was there in 1981.
There has been a violent revolutionary movement there for years. Oaxaca and Chiapas were very poor federal states in southern Mexico then and still to this day. People -- many descendants of the lost Mayan civilization -- live in shacks in the villages surrounding the cities of Oaxaca and San Cristobal Las Casas. Blackened shacks from burning wood inside for heating -- it is almost like the stone-age there in many ways.
So are you surprised that people that live in total squalor clash with the government ?
Oaxaca is famous for
Mezcal -- the Mexican liquor with a worm. I guess some people down there are so poor they eat worms.
The Zapotec in Oaxaca raise and eat magic mushrooms (psychedelic mushrooms)