Mexican Teachers to Hold ‘Mega-March’ Against Peña Nieto

Dissident teachers from the CNTE union in Mexico have called for a “mega-march” on Friday to protest what they said was a violent eviction of striking teachers who were occupying the Ministry of Education in central Mexico City. 

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Teachers, who are considered “radicals” by the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto, have been in an ongoing protest since 2013, when Peña Nieto unveiled his education reform, which was immediately rejected by the CNTE as teacher evaluations were among the central points of the controversial law.

Teachers say the tests do not really measure teaching skills and do not take into account the special knowledge needed to teach in rural areas and Indigenous communities. They also say the law is designed to allow for mass layoffs.

Protesting teachers say they were trying to talk with authorities in order to present alternatives to the reform, but instead of getting an appointment to meet the Minister Aurelio Nuño, they were attacked and threatened by federal police officers. 

For his part Nuño has said he will not hold talks unless teachers accept the reform, something that has inflamed the demands of the 100,000 members of the CNTE and thousands of affiliated teachers across the country who have promised to prove their strength on Friday and overthrow Peña Nieto's reform. 

The march on Friday will be joined by social movements and the relatives of the 43 disappeared Ayotzinapa students. The relatives are holding a rally Thursday to commemorate 20 months since their loved ones were forcibly disappeared by members of organized crime in collusion with local authorities.

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Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in the demonstration that will go from a monument — erected in honor of the 43 Students — and end at the president's residence in the capital of Mexico. 

For more than a decade teachers in Mexico have staged a number of protests, mostly in the impoverished and violent southeast states of Oaxaca, Michoacan, Guerrero and Chiapas, occupying public spaces for months as part of demands for better salaries and working conditions.