At least eight protesters were killed and 53 injured earlier this week in clashes with police in Oaxaca, Mexico, during demonstrations against neoliberal education reforms. The teachers union in Oaxaca has been leading protests this summer against the federal government’s move to impose a national education plan that blankets over indigenous concerns in Oaxaca and imposes teacher evaluations that disadvantage schools in the poor region, as well as attacks against the union, including the controversial arrests of union leaders, mass firings of protesting teachers and the freezing of union bank accounts.
On Sunday, police sought to break up a blockade of protesters and violence erupted, with reports of police shooting into the crowd. The recent tragedy is another in a long line of incidents in Mexico’s ongoing human and labor rights crisis, including the 2014 disappearance and murder of 43 students from the teachers college in Ayotzinapa at the hands of local police and criminal gangs.
AFT President Randi Weingarten has called for an end to the violence and the immediate start of productive negotiations, and described the situation as “a sad commentary on human rights when a government meets union concerns with deadly force.”
Further, as the U.S. and Mexican governments continue to push for expanded trade benefits under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the AFL-CIO and Mexican unions oppose the agreement and demand that the Mexican government—and other countries with dire human and labor rights records like Vietnam and Malaysia—undertake fundamental reforms to end impunity for human rights abuses and protect freedom of speech, association and labor rights.
This article originally appeared in aflcio.org on June 24, 2016. Reprinted with permission.
Charlie Fanning is the Global Advocacy and Research Coordinator at AFL CIO
