Back

LatinNews Daily - 02 June 2021

Click here for printer friendly version
Click here for full report

MEXICO: CNTE mobilises against education reform

On 1 June thousands of teachers affiliated with Mexico’s Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE) teachers’ union staged a march in the southern state of Chiapas demanding the opening of a new dialogue table with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador over the implementation of the federal education reform.

Analysis:

Teachers’ unions were one of the bases of support for López Obrador and the nationally ruling Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party in the 2018 general election. But the CNTE appears to have become disillusioned with the López Obrador government, which it accuses of reneging on its promise to fully repeal the education reform approved by the Enrique Peña Nieto administration (2012-2018). Failure to address the CNTE’s demands quickly could lead to López Obrador and Morena losing the union’s support in the upcoming 6 June midterm federal legislative, state, and local elections, as well as to unrest in Chiapas and other states.

  • The CNTE, which has hundreds of thousands of affiliates and a strong presence in southern states, is highly combative and has significant political clout. It conducted a disruptive and often violent national protest campaign against the education reform throughout Peña Nieto’s term, considering that it undermined their historic rights.
  • During his election campaign López Obrador promised teachers that if elected he would repeal the reform and draft a new one in consultation with teachers. A new education reform was passed in 2019 but the CNTE complains that some aspects of the previous reform, such as centralising the allocation of posts, have been kept.
  • The CNTE has been calling for the implementation of the new reform to be suspended until changes that take into consideration its demands are included. These calls turned into protests in Chiapas following the repression by the state government of the demonstrations staged by trainee teachers last month in demand for more job opportunities.
  • According to local press reports, some 4,000 teachers marched in Chiapas’ capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, yesterday demanding the installation of a dialogue table with President López Obrador.

Looking Ahead: The CNTE has set up a protest camp in Tuxtla Gutiérrez and says that it is prepared to extend its protests around the country if its demands are not met, which suggests tensions are likely to rise in the next few days. 

LatinNews
Intelligence Research Ltd.
167-169 Great Portland Street,
5th floor,
London, W1W 5PF - UK
Phone : +44 (0) 203 695 2790
Contact
You may contact us via our online contact form
Copyright © 2022 Intelligence Research Ltd. All rights reserved.