OAXACA, Mexico—Thousands of teachers in Oaxaca occupied the city’s zócalo central plaza May 28, the
first day of a strike union leaders said would continue indefinitely. An estimated 20,000 teachers marched through the surrounding streets during the afternoon rush hour, blocking traffic for several hours. Eloy López Hernández, secretary general of Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE, National Coordination of Education Workers) Section 22, told reporters that 48,000 teachers had walked out, closing more than 10,000 of the state’s about 13,000 schools. State education officials told the English-language Mexico Daily News that only 1,400 schools had closed. The CNTE, which split off from a larger teachers union allied with the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1979, is demanding that the federal government negotiate with it, unfreeze the union’s bank accounts, and free imprisoned teachers and supporters. López Hernández said protests will intensify. The CNTE, which is largely based in the southern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Michoacán, has called for a nationwide strike for June 4 and is also planning a large protest in Mexico City that day. Read more
