Mexico: March scheduled for Teachers’ Day on May 15 in Mexico City

Event

The National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) has organized a march in Mexico City on Teachers’ Day on Monday, May 15, to call for educational reforms. The march will reportedly begin at 10:00 (local time) and go from Los Pinos to the Secretaría de Gobernación (Segob). Teachers are demanding job security and the right to public, free, and secular education. The CNTE also said that it will consider a new strike if the government refuses to negotiate on reinstating 800 teachers that were previously laid off. Other demonstrations are possible throughout the country.

The CNTE held a 48-hour strike from May 2 to May 3 following a march on May 1 (International Labor Day) in the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. Buildings were vandalized, businesses and government buildings were destroyed, and cars were set on fire during protests.

Context

Teachers have held numerous strikes and protests in recent years amid major reforms to the education sector implemented by the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto, particularly teacher layoffs following refusals to take newly-introduced teacher evaluation tests. On May 1-3, teachers carried out protests in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacán, and Sinaloa states, barricading shopping centers, blocking highways, and occupying toll booths. Most of those who participated in the protests were associated with CNTE.

A major teacher strike launched in Oaxaca and Chiapas (as well as other states) on Teachers' Day in 2016 lasted for months and was accompanied by roadblocks on city streets and highways, which led to shortages of fuel, medicine, and food, particularly in Oaxaca. Numerous violent incidents occurred, including attacks on gas stations, the occupation of public buildings, the kidnapping of police officials, and assaults on teachers not participating in the strike. A clash between teachers and security forces in Asunción Nochixtlán on June 19, 2016, left eight people dead.

Advice

Individuals in Mexico are advised to avoid all demonstrations due to the potential for violence and to never attempt to cross a roadblock without authorization.