March on April 10th, 2018 (@Pozol)

Under the slogan “48-Hour Teachers and Popular Strike Towards National Teacher and Popular Strike”, on April 10th, thousands of teachers of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE in its Spanish acronym), parents of families, displaced indigenous peoples, student teachers and members of more than 60 campesino social organizations, marched in Tuxtla Gutiérrez against educational reform and declared themselves in favor of creating a “national united front” to face “the onslaught of the federal government with its public policies and legal reforms that criminalize social protest, which generate unemployment with massive layoffs, suspended payments to teachers, which continues to reduce spending on health and education while increasing it for electoral campaigns.” The mobilization was led by 59 families of displaced indigenous people from Puebla ejido in Chenalho who stated that the government still has not meet their demands to return to their homes.

In other protest actions, they also took over the toll booth on the Tuxtla-San Cristobal highway, conducted an information dissemination brigade in public markets and commercial centers, and visited public and private radio and television stations to publicize the reasons for their protests.

Teachers mobilized despite threats that there would be deductions from their salaries for days they did not show up for work. In this framework, the Ministry of Education stated that “our position is clear: there will be discounts if they do not show up for work. We have met our part of the agreement, for that reason we make an attentive call to the teachers so that they do not put their union interests before the continuity of educational services.”

The CNTE said that if there are no negotiations with the Ministry of the Interior, there will be stoppages on April 30th, May 1st and 2nd.

For more information in Spanish:

Marchan en Chiapas contra la reforma educativa y proponen un frente nacional (Proceso, 9 de abril de 2018)

Desplazados se suman a marchas (Aquí Noticias, 9 de abril de 2018)

CNTE en Chiapas levanta paro y anuncia otro de tres días en protesta contra la reforma educativa (Proceso, 10 de abril de 2018)

Maestros levantan plantón, pero amenazan con regresar (NVI Noticias, 11 de abril de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca/ Nacional: La CNTE y la Segob acuerdan mesas de negociación (13 de julio de 2016)

Chiapas/Oaxaca/Nacional: Ante falta de acuerdos sobre la reforma educativa en el diálogo, el magisterio sigue con las movilizaciones (28 de junio de 2016)