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Judges in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca issued 15 arrest warrants for teachers from the dissident CNTE union.
According to local media, while the arrest warrants were issued July 24 — including for senior union leaders, such as its spokesperson and treasurer — so far, nobody has been arrested.
In a document leaked to the press, the judges say those with a pending arrest are accused of playing a role in riots that took place in the June legislative elections.
Teachers are specifically accused of stealing and burning electoral ballots in an electoral process that was affected by protests and calls to boycott it, which came as a result of widespread anger over violence and corruption in the country. The Organization of American States decided to suspend its electoral observing mission in Oaxaca due to some of the actions carried out around the elections.
As well as the generalized nationwide protests, teachers specifically were protesting against education reforms put forward by President Enrique Peña Nieto. The new laws set a series of controversial teacher evaluations, which CNTE members strongly reject. They say the tests do not really measure teaching skills, or take into account the special knowledge needed to teach in rural areas and indigenous communities.
Since 2006, CNTE teachers — considered “radicals” by the government of Peña Nieto — have staged a number of protests in the impoverished and violent southeast states of the country.
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