Oaxaca, Mexico – Hundreds of teachers on Wednesday occupied several government offices and blocked highways in this southern Mexican city to press their demand for the resignation of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz.
The teachers took over offices of the state government, the regional legislature, the state attorney general’s office and the main courthouse, spokespersons for the demonstrators told reporters.
Before the start of the protests, government workers managed to remove computers and other equipment from some of the offices, local radio reported.
The leader of the state branch of the SNTE teachers union, Enrique Rueda, told the press that the demonstrations would continue until Ruiz – whom the teachers accuse of repression and of having made Oaxaca ungovernable – steps down.
Federal police officials confirmed that other groups of teachers also blocked the highways that link Oaxaca with the Pacific resort of Acapulco and with the Gulf coast port city of Veracruz.
Demonstrations broke out on May 22 to demand pay hikes for the 70,000 teachers that make up Section 22 of the SNTE, Latin America’s largest labor union.
However, an attempt by police – on Ruiz’s orders – to forcibly dislodge the protesting teachers who had occupied the main square of Oaxaca city left more than 80 people injured and intensified the conflict, and the educators subsequently began demanding the governor’s resignation.
The teachers have broken off all talks with the Oaxaca state government, which they refuse to recognize, and say they are waiting for Mexican President Vicente Fox to intervene and meet their demands.
In 2005, Ulises Ruiz drew criticism from Amnesty International and the Inter American Press Association for his bare-knuckle tactics against a local newspaper that offended him by endorsing his opponent in the August 2004 election.
Last July, the employees of Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca were driven from the publication’s offices by club-wielding members of a union loyal to Gov. Ruiz.
