In actions that have echos of the struggle in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, teachers and their union have installed themselves outside the governor聮s office in the southern province of Neuquen, calling for better salaries and governor Jorge Omar Sobisch聮s resignation.
Walter Yoia
A five-kilometre-long 鈥渕ega-march鈥 of hundreds of thousands of protesters took place in the state of Oaxaca on November 5. It demanded the resignation of the hated state governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (known as URO). Only a few days earlier, on November 2, there was a battle to keep control of Benito Juarez University from federal troops that occupied the city of Oaxaca, the state鈥檚 capital, on October 29. These were just the latest events in a popular revolt in the southern Mexican state aimed at ousting the governor after he used savage repression to curb a teachers鈥 strike in July.
The popular movement in the southern state of Oaxaca has called for solidarity, fearing a massive wave of repression because of a recent step-up in numbers of police and military in the state. Since a strike by Local 22 of the National Teachers Union began in May, the conflict has escalated to a national issue. At its centre is governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, whose repressive methods have sparked a movement to remove him.