Teachers Union Leaders Detained for Illegal Acts

(Acapulco, AN October 25) The ministerial police of the state of Guerrero (who investigate for the state prosecutors) apprehended two former leaders of the teachers’ union known as CETEG for “attacking the general means of communication.” Many took this to mean acts of vandalism and destruction during last week’s demonstrations in Chilpancingo, when federal highways were obstructed for hours, and the entrances to several buildings of the state government were destroyed. It happens, however, that Felix Moreno Peralta and Jorge Garcia Hernandez, the two former union leaders who are now awaiting disposition in Acapulco’s main jail, are charged with planning and executing the blockade of Acapulco several months ago, when CETEG obstructed city travel for several days, in protest of the certification application of a competing teachers’ group, known as the Alianza por la Calidad de la Educación en Guerrero” (“Alliance for Quality Education in Guerrero”). State ministerial police commissioner Fernando Monreal Leyva confirmed the incarceration and explained how the charges related to the previous act of unlawful obstruction of public passage in the port city. The two arrested labor leaders were also implicated in the blockading of streets in Chilpancingo and in closing down the federal highway between Mexico City and Acapulco known as the “Autopista del Sol.”

In a related story, the state attorney general has issued 40 arrest warrants against members of the teachers’ union for their role in the blockade of roads and highways in Chilpancingo last week and for the destruction of public property, including the entrance ways to several government buildings.

The secretary general of state government, Israel Soberanis Nogueda, explained that the government has tried to be patient and not to use public force to enforce the laws against the actions of the teachers’ union CETEG, but the “utter disrespect” for the rule of law shown by the union leadership required some form of response, especially when the teachers are the “pillar of education of our youth.” “The teachers have every right to demonstrate in order to open a dialogue with the government, but we would hope that in those demonstrations they would respect the rights of third parties, of peaceful coexistence with, and the free movement of, the other citizens of those cities.” Even though negotiations had begun between the Guerrero Secretary of Education and the union leaders, the union continued to obstruct public roadways with its demonstrations. Soberanis Nogueda added, “Now there is an open dialogue on the part of the democratic government, which is listening to them; nevertheless, they continue to act in the same way as they did in the past.”