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Mexico: Network Rejects Violence and Repression of Teachers

Network for Peace Rejects Violence and Repression of Teachers and Calls for Dialogue

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San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, June 21, 2016

The member organizations of Network for Peace (Red por la Paz) express our indignation over the acts of repression that the Mexican State has carried out, through the police forces, against the teachers’ movement and civil society which has expressed its rejection in recent weeks of the educational reform passed in 2013. It has been repeatedly pointed out that the educational reform promoted by Enrique Peña Nieto, passed by the Congress of the Union and the congresses of the federal states, as well as permitting the gradual privatization of public education, is a labour reform that breaks with the principle of stable employment and the right to form a trade union.

The mobilizations of protest and rejection that have been organized by sections seven and 22 of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) and the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacan, among others, have been repressed through the excessive use of public force, extended to the sympathetic population or simply passers-by in the places where the protests were happening.

In Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca, the conflict has resulted in murders of teachers and civilians as well as hundreds of wounded and dozens of people arrested.

In this context, the risk of an escalation of repressive and indiscriminate violence, on the part of the State, in all of the states where the teachers’ movement has protested with the support of civil society (Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas, Michoacan, Guerrero, among others) is very high and against this, of a popular response that, tired of attacks and deaths, could respond with defensive violence. Against this context of violence in which several violations of human rights have occurred, and also due to the recurring climate of impunity, we call for national and international solidarity to show, in writing to the President of the Republic, its rejection of excessive use of force against the teachers’ movement and against civil society.

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We demand from Enrique Peña Nieto:

• Public and respectful dialogue that genuinely addresses and presents solutions to the just demands of the teachers’ union.

• An end to the repression and criminalization of the teachers’ union.

Chiapas Network for Peace:

Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz A.C. (SERAPAZ)

Comisión de Apoyo a la Unidad y Reconciliación Comunitaria, A.C. (CORECO)

Desarrollo Económico y Social de los Mexicanos Indígenas, A.C. (DESMI)

Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (Frayba)

Educación para la Paz, A.C. (EDUPAZ)

ENLACE, Comunicación y Capacitación, A.C. (ENLACE CC)

Servicio Internacional para la Paz (Sipaz)

Centro de Derechos de la Mujer Chiapas, A.C. (CDMCH)

Comité de Derechos Huanos Fray Pedro Lorenzo de La Nada (CDHFP)

Centro de Derechos Indígenas A.C. (CEDIAC)


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