Oaxacan Leftists (APPO) Order Striking Teachers to Meet, Urge Rejection of Settlement (Translation)

El Universal ( Mexico City ) ^ | October 20, 2006 | Jorge Octavio Ochoa ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

APPO whips Rueda

The leader of Section 22 of the SNTE¹ receives a series of criticisms on behalf of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, who described him as a "traitor and sellout."

Jorge Octavio Ochoa / Correspondent
El Universal (Mexico City)
Oaxaca City, Oaxaca
Friday 20 October 2006

1:20 p.m. The leader of Section 22 of the SNTE, Enrique Rueda Pacheco, this morning received an official series of criticisms on behalf of the sympathizers of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), who catalogued him as a traitor and sellout.

Meanwhile, the tension within the midst of the teachers began to grow on the eve of Saturday morning's assembly, facing an overall rejection of a possible return to classes next week.

Since last Wednesday when Rueda Pacheco revealed the carrying out of a consultation to question the ranks as to whether they accept the proposals of the government and to fix the date for the return to classes, the plenary session of delegates booed time and again, in evident rejection of only mentioning the return to classes without the removal of [Oaxacan Governor] Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

This anticipates an extremely tense situation for tomorrow, when APPO members have summoned the organization [i.e. the SNTE] to come together in the headquarters of the teacher's union hotel where this Saturday they will make known the result of the consultation.

Homage to a murdered teacher

Meanwhile in the Zocalo plaza of the city they are carrying out preparations to receive the coffin and to render homage to the primary school teacher Panfilo Hernandez.²

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¹ The SNTE is the acronym for the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (National Union of Educational Workers), whose Section 22 (i.e. "Local 22") in Oaxaca organized the original strike this past May 22 which precipitated the current conflict, later leading to the organization of APPO, which significantly radicalized the situation.

² Panfilo Hernandez was a primary school teacher who was killed Wednesday evening after an APPO meeting. APPO has charged Oaxacan police with guilt for the murder.

[StJacques]

Well; it now appears that APPO is attempting to pressure the SNTE into rejecting the proposed return to classes that was announced yesterday, as was discussed in another thread. I tend to believe that if the teachers are left to themselves to decide they might approve the end of the strike, but APPO may be capable of intimidating them to do otherwise. On that point, please pay attention to the fact that it is APPO who is summoning the teacher's union to meet tomorrow, which suggests to me that APPO believes it can give orders to the SNTE.

I really do not know what will happen, but I intend to check in on a number of blogging sites later today to see if they may have useful information to update this story. Right now, this is all I have.

[StJacques]

A Mexican Left Watch ping for you all.

Anyone wishing to be added to the ping list may contact me via Freepmail or post within this thread.

[StJacques]

Almost forgot to include the three of you among the pings.

[A CA Guy]

So their teacher like ours are connected to the communist labor party?

[StJacques]

Even though I see American teachers as among the biggest obstacles to education reform in this country, I think Mexico's are a little worse.

[rpgdfmx]

Not really. What's complicated in Oaxaca is that the state teachers' union is a reformist movement (it does include a lot of Marxists, but Mexican Marxists aren't like European Communists. Mexican Marxists tend to draw more on pre-hispanic traditions of village cooperation, just using the "modern" term for very old, traditional values). The NATIONAL union is corrupt, and the Oaxacan teachers have been trying for at least the last 6 years to throw the bums out. A lot of Oaxacan teachers died mysteriously, and the teachers have been somewhat radicalized, but are still within the Mexican mainstream when it comes to labor issues.

The National leader WAS tied to PRI (the state governor's party), but formed her own party, allied with PAN in the last election. Ester Elba Gordilla, the Union Pres, is called "Senora Hoffa" in the media... for good reason. Like her namesake, she's willing to switch parties to preserve her own power, and has managed somehow on a small-town grade school teacher's income to acquire things like apartments in Paris.

[StJacques]

". . . and the teachers have been somewhat radicalized, but are still within the Mexican mainstream when it comes to labor issues. . . ."

I will respectfully contest this point. Section 22 of the SNTE has been sufficiently brought under APPO's wing to the point where their tactics of intimidation probably include the murder of dissidents.

The source I will use is an October 7 article in Mexico City's El Universal newspaper, reporting the murder of high school teacher Jaime René Calvo Aragón, an SNTE member and, who was also a member of the PRI-dominated Consejo Central de Lucha [Central Council of Struggle] (CCL), and thus was a dissenting voice from APPO's tactics.

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Death of APPO Opponent Stokes Hostility

Oaxaca City, Oaxaca -- The social confrontation in the state intensified after the murder of teacher Jaime René Calvo Aragón, member of the Central Council of Struggle (CCL), a dissident [faction] of Section 22 of the SNTE.

The CCL sustained its posture of accusing Enrique Rueda Pacheco, local leader of the SNTE, of the homicide of the dissident teacher.

But the official teacher's union and the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca contine distancing themselves from the crime.

Teacher Erika Rap Soto, member of the leadership of the CCL, and Alma Rosa Fernandez Aquino, Secretary of Legal Affairs, indicated that days before the murder the union delegation of Section 22 -- in the Technical Secondary School Number 1, where the teacher last worked -- circulated a black list of presumed enemies of the APPO and teacher's union movement.

On that list, they pointed out, appeared the names of various teachers opposed to the SNTE, among them, that of Calvo Aragon. . . .
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Now I know that allegations made in the heat of passion and untested in a court of law remain unsubstantiated, but I also do not believe in coincidence either. The attempts I have read which try to explain Calvo Aragon's murder as an effort by Ulises Ruiz's supporters to stir up violence so as to mandate the intervention of the federal government do not hold water with me. The CCL contains a lot of Ruiz supporters. I do not believe that the explanation that Ruiz's people killed one of their own to convince the federal government to interve is in the least bit plausible.

I regard the evident complicity of the SNTE and APPO in the murder of Calvo Aragon as indicating they are decidedly radicalized and clearly outside the mainstream of the Mexican labor movement.

It also must be added that APPO and the SNTE have vandalized and destroyed local businesses owned by either PRI supporters or other local leaders who have opposed their shutdown of the city and the state. Radio Plantón broadcasts have made clear that APPO is keeping a list of those who have opposed their program and promised retaliation against those individuals -- and names were read -- when they return to the city. There is nothing "mainstream" about APPO and Section 22 of the SNTE whatsoever.

And Elba Esther Gordillo has been among the leaders of the SNTE for years, a position that brings a nice salary along with it. You will find that most Mexican union leaders do quite well financially. I do not condone that, because I think there's more than enough corruption among them to go around, but if you want to insinuate corruption here, then take a look at APPO leader Flavio Sosa's frequent jetting back and forth from Mexico City, along with his staff, and explain where that money comes from. For that matter, how is anyone in APPO, an organization that ostensibly has no internal sources of funding, able to persist?

[rpgdfmx]

I don't know if you saw it in today's El Universal yet, but the union broke with APPO, and -- according to Enrique Rueda -- will be returning to the classrooms.

[StJacques]

I am aware of the supposed break with APPO, as I posted a thread on that subject yesterday from an article on the El Universal web site. The article I posted at the top of this thread suggests that Rueda Pacheco may not be fully in control of Section 22 of the SNTE. That's what we're waiting to see play out.

We'll probably have a pretty good idea which way Section 22 is going by early to mid week.

[rpgdfmx]

Sorry, hadn't seen the other post. I take the APPO as less sinister than you do, since I see it more as a loosely organized -- and typically Mexican -- temporary coalition of several different groups ... the teachers' union (whose fights have been going on for years), the majority that thinks Ulizes Ruiz' 2004 election was fraudulent (I agree with them... and don't know any observers in Mexico who think his election was kosher), and the Oaxancas who were upset over mismanagement and fraud in the city's urban beautification project -- which favored the big money interests over the small merchants (like urban renewal projects around the world).

Jetting back and forth to Mexico City isn't sinister. That's normal during union-government negotiations of this kind. I agree that the SNTE teacher who was shot probably was shot by an APPO supporter -- which means the suspect is a lot of people in that State. On the other hand "agents provacatuers" have a long and dishonorable history in Mexico, and the Governor's attempts to use police agents to create violence at the demonstration outside his hotel a few weeks ago raises some eyebrows. Really, though, one or two deaths in a 6 month civil demonstration is a very, very, very low level of violence.

I've been talking on and off with several people in the State, especially foreigners. They all agree it's safe to visit, though they worry about the future, naturally.

[StJacques]

I will never defend Ulises Ruiz, whether on the subject of the honesty of his 2004 election or any other, so I have no qualms with your take on him. But even though Ruiz likely came to power by virtue of fraud, there are laws on the books to handle that and demanding that existing laws be ignored is a recipe for anarchy. And the Governmental Secretariat of the Mexican federal government (Segob) offered a referendum vote on Ruiz as part of a negotiated settlement with APPO and the SNTE that was refused. That suggests that APPO's goal is to create a situation in which the "law is what they say it is" and not what is written down, which I regard as an extremely radical position. They could have gotten Ruiz out of office by accepting the deal, since the federal government offered guarantees of election monitors and more, but they refused.

I don't propose the notion of "jetting back and forth to Mexico City" as anything sinister. I am raising the question of APPO's funding, because the organization has just come together and its breadth of operation, as demonstrated by the travels of its leadership, requires extensive funding. The SNTE is not providing the means either, that has already been made clear. Just where APPO's money is coming from is a valid issue here.

[rovenstinez]

As often is the case, there is some truth in what APPO has been saying, and wise people would do well to listen to the drumbeats, as attention does need to be paid to some of the issues that this whole scenario has raised.

[A CA Guy]

At this point I feel that all this stuff away from the main election result is actually forms of anarchy or worse.

[StJacques]

"At this point I feel that all this stuff away from the main election result is actually forms of anarchy or worse."

I've translated at least two editorials from Mexico City newspapers which make the case that contesting "the main election result" is what is really behind the transformation of the Oaxacan situation into a "crisis of ingovernability." If the precedent can be set of removing an elected chief executive in the state of Oaxaca by the promotion of anarchy, then supposedly the same could be done at the national level. This is why the refusal of APPO and the SNTE to accept the referendum offer made by Segob is so significant. Ruiz would clearly lose in any such referendum. That means it's not what results from the protest, i.e. "the removal of Ulises Ruiz as Governor," but how he is removed that is important to the Mexican Left. They want to fix the popular consciousness upon extra-legal means as acceptable in Mexican political and governmental life.

All of the above is another way of saying that the Oaxacan protest is an attack on Mexican institutions and not on Ulises Ruiz. The Left feels they must weaken Mexico's political and governmental institutions or they will fail.

[DaoPian]

Here's some more information about the internal splits and propaganda war., it will be interesting to see what comes out of today's consulta. Thanks for the ping.

10/21/06 - The fight is now left to the "best of the best" Since last week there have been indications of a rift within the "movement". This has been noted for awhile with many on all sides acknowledging the presence and influence of radical elements taking over. The feds have evidently backed out of this conflict by non-action and a schizophrenic statement on Ruiz. The majority of teachers no longer actively participate and are either already working or plan on returning. Ruiz has an even bigger hard-on.

I can't wait for the info war about today's "consulta" - who get's to consult? Again, the OSAG is an interesting microcosm for seeing a certain perspective about the situation.

Regarding media coverage, propaganda and radicals pushing the movement:

We should also keep in mind, however, that the Universal has repeatedly exaggerated and blown things out of proportion when reporting on the movement. Everything the Universal says should be taken with that grain of salt, compared with La Jornada, and with the opinion of teachers themselves.
The same goes for Radio Ley and Radio Universidad. As I've said before, those radios are controlled by a current that has been real good about generating divisions between the teachers and the APPO all along.

Jill has some thoughts on the teachers returning to work:

If the teachers do infact decide to go back to classes (in a consulta, decided by the base, and not a decision imposed from the cupola), I support them in that decision. For several reasons....the teachers i've spoken to (on the phone from Seattle) have expressed concerns about the dwindling numbers of teachers in the plantons (about 3000 in DF, and at best 5000 in Oaxaca, during the day). That's out of 70,000 teachers. Where are the rest of them? In their communities, absolutely broke, witnessing a rapid hemorraghing of support from parents and community authorities. Some teachers have talked to me about the possibility of framing a return to classes in such a way that gives them the moral highground...for example, "we are returning to classes, but we will also be organizing in our communities for a consulta popular." Or a return to classes where the educational focus is on everything that has happened in the last five months.

...

Maybe it's time for the teachers to pass the baton for awhile. I mean, everyone talks about how this is a popular struggle, not a teachers struggle, but who has been sleeping in the streets for the last 5 months? Who has gone for 2 months with no income? Who walked to Mexico City? Who has to respond to angry parents and community authorities? The teachers, that's who. If it's really a popular struggle, then the "pueblo" should walk out of their jobs and sleep in the streets. I wonder how long they'd last..especially the pueblo who doesn't live in the city. How many community members from rural communities have left their towns, their families, and their sources of income to come to Oaxaca city and sleep in the streets? Very few, and with good reason. It's hard. It's unsustainable. It's something the teachers have been doing for awhile, and if they can't do it anymore, I don't blame them.

Weeping and wailing:

As for Jill's comments, good and thoughtful as always, nevertheless leave me with a miserable gut feeling - when people call in weeping (which is not uncommon, everyone's so stressed out), I doubt there will be forgiveness. Radio Universidad is taking call after call from people pleading with the teachers to hang on, and also pleading with the people to go an extra step in assisting the teachers in the encampment. One vote came in, but I didn't get the locale - it was in favor of continuing on the strike. I don't know how many teachers were part of that, dumb me, maybe somebody else heard it? I can't get Ley or Radio Planton - streaming, they both stream the static interference, so I'm depending for the moment on Radio Universidad.

Weeping and wailing? By who?:

i have heard the desperate phone calls to the radio stations as well. but part of my point was...what if the radio signal was reaching the whole state and people from the whole state could call in. What would they say? how much do people in the rural communities even know about what's happening in Oaxaca city?
Finally. I have been inside Radio Ley. Right inside the little room that they broadcast from. And I saw the little signs posted on the walls. "Compañeros, don't allow any calls against the teachers to get on the air" "Compañeros, every five minutes, we are against the consulta." Those exact words (but in spanish, of course). That's democratizing the media? It wouldn't surprise me one bit if there is a little sign posted on the wall at Radio Ley and at Radio Universidad saying "Compañeros, don't allow on the air any calls in support of a return to classes."
So when the radio becomes our means for taking the pulse of the movement, you have to ask how much of what we hear on the radio is really representative of the movement.

Just plain incoherent babbling.

[Shuttle Shucker]

Even Felipe's home state of Michoacan is going nuts with its share of beheadings:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061021/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_bloody_michoacan

[StJacques]

This is just an update on what news is available so far as to the progress of the meeting of the SNTE scheduled in Oaxaca City today. Briefly; it appears that APPO has organized some 200 SNTE members -- there are tens of thousands of SNTE members striking in the state right now -- and has taken over the hotel where the meeting is scheduled to take place. They are apparently intimidating CCL-affiliated members from arriving to participate in the "consultation" they were supposed to undertake today.

There are two articles up on the El Universal web site with information.

The first, whose title translates as "Teachers impede assembly in Oaxaca," gives the following:

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Teachers Impede Assembly in Oaxaca

At least a hundred teachers surround the union hotel where they will carry out a consultation to determine the date of the return to classes; the nonconformists are accusing their leader of betraying them

Jorge Octavio Ochoa / Correspondent
El Universal (Mexico City)
Oaxaca City, Oaxaca
Saturday 21 October 2006

12:13 p.m.The assembly of Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) has not been able to begin this morning due to the fact that the old hotel of this union finds itself surrounded by more than a hundred teachers who find themselves angry with their leader, Enrique Rueda Pacheco.

In the inner door of the dilapidated building, in the alleyway of Montes de Oca and the Boy Heroes a forceful slogan surfaced: "Rueda, traitor to the movement," on other large posters they also asked "Rueda what was your price?"

The two accesses to Section 22's hotel were watched over by extremely irritated senior members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) who in their slogans also shouted "Rueda Pacheco, you are playing us crooked."

Around 11:45 a.m. a violent incident was recorded between two teachers and one of them screamed "You are with the CCL (Central Council of Struggle), you only came to provoke us!"

Some teachers in the immediate vicinity tried to prevent photographers from capturing the incident.

According to unconfirmed reports, the leaders of APPO offered to establish a circle of security to the union to permit the beginning of the assembly.

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In a second article, whose translated title is "Rueda maintains that they will have their assembly in Oaxaca," Rueda Pacheco insists that the assembly will be held today, though he gives no particulars. But he gave this information by telephone and, by the time of the article, had not yet shown up at the hotel. And, as an almost perfect example of "newspeak," the APPO head of security said that "every organization must make its decisions in a free and sovereign manner, without any pressure to make them act in one form or another." Yeah, right!

So; I don't know anything more than the above. But I'll keep an eye out for updates. I will say that I suspect the meeting will not be held and that there are private consultations taking place out of APPO's sight, because the SNTE may fear violence at APPO's hands. But that's just a guess on my part.

[rpgdfmx]

"This is why the refusal of APPO and the SNTE to accept the referendum offer made by Segob is so significant." Actually, my reply was to one of your earlier posts. I'm not sure a referendum is legally binding in Mexico, which may be a factor in its rejection.

[rpgdfmx]

"This is why the refusal of APPO and the SNTE to accept the referendum offer made by Segob is so significant." Actually, my reply was to one of your earlier posts. I'm not sure a referendum is legally binding in Mexico, which may be a factor in its rejection.

[Shuttle Shucker]

Chavez can expect more headaches from the Mexican presidential administration that he lobbied against the recognition of: the concluding portion of this new article suggests Mexico will soon discard its traditional stance of neutrality in foreign affairs and take on a more activist role:

http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/21099.html

Why don't they help us establish democracy in Iraq like El Salvador is? If they want the wall to come down, they should have to earn it by countering the oligarchs messing up their own country too (i.e. Carlos Slim).