Yesterday Janey and I drove Robert to the airport. We
dropped him off at the curve and made our way back, with all kinds of stops
along the way (Janey’s husband asked what I’d done all day, and I said too much
shopping. He asked how many places I’d been to, and I said three, two of which I
stayed in the car. That’s me—the shopper.) Anyway, I can safely say I saw every item in IKEA, both floors. While we were doing all this shopping, Robert
called to say he was on the plane, and everything was fine.
Last night I had been working on a post for today, letting
it stew when I went to bed. Around midnight I was woken up by Teammate Phil, “Where’s
Rob?” That is not what you want to hear when you’ve dropped your husband off at
the airport, and heard he’s on the plane, and been told everything is fine.
Obviously, everything is not fine. I
quickly looked up the flight; the final leg from Houston to Oaxaca had been
cancelled, so he must be in Houston.
Phil told me that the teachers in Oaxaca, who usually strike
about this time of year, are organizing very heavy protests this year. They had
taken over the airport so that Phil had had to park his truck out on the street
and walk in a mile to see if there were any flights. Everything was cancelled:
act of war, the airlines call it. The teachers have taken over a refinery at
the edge of town, effectively shutting down the supply of gasoline to the city.
The gas stations are closed down, and there is only enough gasoline for one
more day of public transport, on which most of the public relies. No one knows
when the protest will stop.
I finally got a hold of Robert. He’s at a hotel in Houston.
He has a shuttle scheduled at 2 am this morning for a 5 am flight into Oaxaca.
Maybe he will get in. Even so, the question is, can he get back? Will he be
able to get around? I haven’t heard from him yet this morning, so I don’t know
if he’s on a plane.
The teachers are striking for two reasons: President Peña
Nieto introduced an educational reform that includes proficiency exams for the
teachers and other measures to counter corruption in the educational system (especially
in the southern states of Oaxaca, where the educational system is poorest, and
where teaching positions are sometimes bought and sold to the highest bidder).
The teachers feel that the exams and other reform measures could unfairly threaten
their jobs and their union.
The second reason (I will tell you the story as it was told
to me, and believed by everyone I know in Oaxaca) is that in the state of
Guerrero, 43 student teachers were murdered by a drug cartel on the orders of a
mayor’s wife, because they were going to interrupt a party of hers. They were
riding a bus from their teachers college to a protest, and were stopped by the
local police and handed over to the local drug lords, who killed them, chopped
their bodies up, put them into bags, and dropped them into the river. Pieces
have been found of some of the bodies, apparently, and these pieces have been
sent away for DNA testing, but the teachers claim that the there has been a big
government cover-up, and justice has not been done.
Local elections are coming up, and in protest of both of
these government injustices, the teachers in both states (with teachers in other
states joining in; the teachers’ union in Mexico is very strong) are trying to
stop the elections Sunday, June 7th. They have taken over many of
the government offices, throughout Oaxaca and Guerrero, that set up the
elections, burning and ransacking some of them. They have also shut down roads,
airports, stores, gas stations, and other public places to call attention to
their demands.
Terrible situation for the people of Mexico. Prayers for Robert while he is there.
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