OPINION:
Mexico: State Terror, Education Reform and the Stock Exchange
Parents of the disappeared 43 Ayotzinapa teacher trainee students joined the striking CNTE teachers against neoliberal education reforms and police violence on Sunday.
The alliance is “not new, they (the CNTE teachers) have always been with us since the beginning of the issue in Ayotzinapa, today we are only confirming and strengthening our relationship because we believe that what happened in Oaxaca, is the same as what happened in Iguala: death by state repression,” said the parents’ spokesperson, Felipe de la Cruz, to Revolucion TresPuntoCero.
De la Cruz was referencing the deaths of 12 people on June 19 in Nochixtlan, Oaxaca, during a police action against striking teachers, who began their actions last month against President Enrique Peña Nieto’s education reforms. Almost two years ago, the students of Ayotzinapa College Raul Isidro Burgos were victims of enforced disappearance in the violent state of Guerrero, a case which remains unsolved both due to a lack of political will and an iconic symbol of Mexico’s state complicity in systemic violence and impunity.
The parents of the 43 will travel to Nochixtlan Monday night to show their solidarity with the families of victims and with the CNTE.
“The only path to victory is the unification of workers, teachers, students and society in one cause,” said de la Cruz. “This is a criminal government that does not resist the temptation to spill the blood of the people, so we demand an immediate end to this law, poorly called education reform.”
Their bus was attacked with stones Saturday night as they traveled to Mexico City for a national march on Sunday, reported La Jornada.
ANALYSIS:
Neoliberal Teaching Reform Irrelevant to Mexico Needs
A bus carrying another group, the Marxist Frente Popular Revolucionario, or FPR, was stopped by police Sunday coming back from a rally with the CNTE. Dozens of supporters, including elderly people and minors, were ordered to get off the bus and were hit by federal police, accompanied by the State Agency of Investigations, reported Revolucion TresPuntoCero.
After being sent away from the Secretary of Public Security in Oaxaca for being detained for no valid reason, Revolucion TresPuntoCero reported that FPR members were again hit by police and warned that they could be kidnapped next, like the 43 students.
A teacher that was arrested after being arrested in the Nichoxtlan protests said Tuesday that he feared for his life while being detained after receiving similar threats.
“They told us that if they had burned and disappeared 43, what couldn't they do with just three of us,” said Oscar Onesimo Bautista Sarmiento, who received death threats alongside two other detained strikers, upon his release in a video circulated by Oaxaca Informada.