Here is my update, and the article from *The* *Internationalist, which came
out today. *
In Oaxaca there are now 10 people confirmed dead in the massacre on Sunday,
carried out by the federal police who opened fire on protesters on the
highway between Oaxaca and Mexico City. Over 90 people were wounded, and
scores arrested. The Oaxaca authorities ordered the local hospitals and
clinics closed to the injured, and they were told only to treat the
police.
Yesterday the teachers union (Section 22 of the CNTE) sent a caravan of 10
vehicles up to the town of Nochixtlan with medical and food supplies for
the injured, many of whom had been sheltered in local churches, after being
refused admittance to hospitals. Those on the caravan stayed to attend the
funerals.
If the Mexican government believed that their death-squad killers would
isolate and destroy the teachers union, it had opposite effect. The
resistance is growing.
Thousands of people from the local communities turned out to support the
teachers on the barricades and the battles which took place at four
different towns along the main highway from Oaxaca to Mexico City.
Since the massacre, Oaxaca has been in shock. On Monday, thousands turned
out for a march of defiance and rage. Some of the murdered people were
just kids, including an 18-year old who had come to deliver medical aid and
supplies to the teaches' blockade. The universities reopened today; they
closed down for two days in solidarity. There have been mass marches of
hospital workers and university students.
Since the teachers strike began on May 15, the Mexican government has
refused to negotiate with the teachers, instead dropping tear gas canisters
from helicopters on strikers in Chiapas, arresting union leaders, firings
thousands of teachers, and on Sunday mowing down demonstrators on the
highway. Today with Oaxaca now in the headlines nationally, the government
has opened a "dialogue" session, still insisting they will not budge an
inch on the Education Reform Law, brought in to criminalize and break the
teachers' union.
Yesterday, the UN human rights people arrived to "investigate" what
happened on Sunday. They will need to dig through a mountain of government
lies, such as the lie that the *federales *couldn't have done the killings
since they were allegedly unarmed (a lie that dissolved as soon as the
videotapes emerged). These bold face cover-ups for state murder are
reminiscent of the lies that were told about the disappearance of the 43
rural teachers' college students from Ayotzinapa in September 2014.
Here is the article and photos from today's *Internationalist:*
Attachment:
Mexican Teachers Brave Murderous Repression.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
