Members of a dissident teachers’ union who have been protesting in Mexico City for more than three weeks escalated their tactics Thursday, vandalizing public buildings, blockading two government pension offices and setting fires at a rival union’s headquarters.
The National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) has been on strike since May 15, demanding a wage increase, pension reform and reinstatement of dismissed teachers.
After pitching tents and occupying several blocks of downtown Mexico City, union members have regularly staged disruptive demonstrations, including toll booth takeovers, roadblocks on major thoroughfares and a lengthy blockade of the Mexico City International Airport.
On Thursday, members of the CNTE from the state of Guerrero took action, as protesters sacked the Mexico City headquarters of a rival teachers’ union — the SNTE — breaking into the building and sacking several offices.
The masked rioters carried out files and furniture and set them ablaze in front of the building, before setting another fire inside the offices. The fire department arrived quickly on the scene to extinguish the flames.
Across town at the government pension headquarters, protesters took hammers and crowbars to the steel barricades surrounding the building. They were unable to get through, but blocked access for several hours. A siege was also undertaken at a separate pension office, lasting four hours.
These protests came a day after CNTE protesters — reportedly led by the radical Guerrero faction known by the acronym CETEG — vandalized the headquarters of the Interior Ministry, destroying several doors and windows of the iconic Cobián Palace. At least seven homemade fire bombs were tossed onto the grounds, according to the newspaper El Universal.
In separate statements, the Interior Ministry (SEGOB) and the Education Ministry condemned the vandalism, urging the CNTE to return to the negotiating table. SEGOB cautioned that violence and destruction are never a solution and decrease the chances of a timely resolution.
The attack on the SEGOB building occurred after Wednesday’s negotiation session ended with no agreement. CNTE leadership accused the government of intransigence, insisting on pension reform and the abrogation of the 2007 Education Reform that stripped the CNTE of powers and returned them to the federal government.
Several hours later, members of CNTE Section 22, a faction from the state of Oaxaca, announced it was leaving the Zócalo tent city. The move was described as a tactical retreat, but Thursday’s disturbances indicated the protest was not losing steam.
President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday criticized the violent turn the protests have taken.
“We disapprove of these actions and never condone violence,” she said. “Protests should be peaceful and those who committed these acts of vandalism should be charged.”
Sheinbaum called the violence “a provocation” and said the SNTE has a right to take legal action.
Sheinbaum had been scheduled to make an official tour of Guerrero on Friday, but after Thursday’s violence in Mexico City and in Guerrero, and amid reports that CETEG was preparing demonstrations in its home state during the president’s visit, her agenda was altered.
SNTE leader Alfonso Cepeda condemned the attack on his offices and said his union would be filing an official complaint.
After Cepeda criticized CNTE actions, saying “teachers don’t act with violence,” Section 22 issued a public statement calling the SNTE “a political arm of the state.”
The SNTE accepted the 10% pay rise offered by Sheinbaum on May 15, National Teachers Day, but the CNTE rejected the offer, declaring a strike in four states. The next day, thousands of CNTE members began their occupation of downtown Mexico City.
With reports from La Jornada, El Sur de Acapulco, El Universal and Animal Político
