Teachers OK pact in Oaxaca

Striking teachers in Oaxaca have agreed to return to classes as early as next week in what federal officials hope is a first step in restoring order to the state's historic capital after five months of civil unrest. But a key protest leader said on Oct. 20 that demonstrators would maintain street blockades, daring authorities to intervene. The teachers' pact, he said, could isolate the more radical among the many unionists, farmers, Marxists and indigenous groups that make up the Oaxacan protest movement. "We could take over more government offices, more radio and TV stations, or take over the airport," Flavio Sosa said. "At this point, anything can happen." Government officials hope the deal with the state's 70,000 teachers will divide protesters, who coalesced under the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). The pact will give teachers a 30 percent raise over six years. The current average salary for an elementary school teacher is about $600 a month. Federal Interior Minister Carlos Abascal last week also offered to release arrested protesters, send more government money to Oaxaca and replace leaders in charge of local and state police. But the accord with teachers is no guarantee of a settlement. "If Ruiz comes back, I assure you there will not be peace in Oaxaca," said Sosa, a former state lawmaker and a member of the national council of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). Some teachers denounced the vote by 1,500 union representatives on Oct. 19 to continue seeking Ruiz's resignation but return to work. "We don't want any sellouts," said Jorge Alberto Vazquez. National teachers union leader Elba Esther Gordillo last week threatened to expel Oaxaca's Section 22 union and to replace its teachers with those from other parts of the country unless union leaders agreed on a resolution. Section 22 leader Enrique Rueda Pacheco said on Oct. 20 that the decision to return to work was based not on pressure from Gordillo or the government, but from "the commitment we have to the children of Oaxaca."