Teachers' Protest

Last Thursday was "Día del Maestro" (Teacher's Day), and there were no classes in schools throughout the nation.  Many public school teachers used the day to stage a massive protest for higher wages, and set up a tent city on the Zócalo.  Unlike the United States all public schools in Mexico are controlled by the federal government rather than the individual states and local school districts.

On Friday, the front page of one of the newspapers showed the encampment of teachers on the plaza.

President reacted with a 9% increase in teachers' salaries, but the teachers' union said that was insufficient.  Although 9% may seem a hefty increase, one must remember that teachers' salaries in Mexico are very low.  The average salary for teachers is the equivalent of about $12,000 U.S. dollars, compared to a national average in Mexico of about $29,000.

On Thursday when I took the subway downtown there was no sign of the protests in the area where I was, nor was there any disruption to transportation.

On Friday, however, it was a different story.  I needed to take the Metrobus to Alejandro's family's house.  I take the bus that runs along Insurgentes Avenue almost to the end of the line.  When I got to the the bus stop by the World Trade Center, I found out that the buses were only running as far as the "Glorieta de Insurgentes"... the traffic circle that I mentioned in the previous post.  I asked a policewoman what was going on, and she said that Insurgentes Avenue was blocked by protesters.  I also asked where service along the route resumed, and she said at "Plaza de la República", four stops away.

So I took the bus as far as "Glorieta de Insurgentes" where everyone had to get off.  I started walking.  When I got to the intersection of Insurgentes and Paseo de la Reforma, one of the busiest in the city, I saw that protesters had blocked the intersection.

At least they allowed the ambulance that you see in the above photo to pass through the blockade.

On a megaphone, one of the leaders said that they would continue the blockade until the President meets with them.

You may wonder why the government allows such disruptions to occur.  Ever since the brutal massacres of hundreds of student protesters in 1968 and again in 1971, the government has been loathe to disrupt any peaceful demonstration.

The temperature was 89 degrees Fahenheit, but I walked about a mile to where the Metrobus service resumed.  Although I had a seat on the bus, it was hot and jammed with people.  I was a sweaty mess by the time I arrived at the house.

On Saturday, Alejandro and I went downtown again.  We took a different Metrobus route and arrived without any problems.  However, numerous streets in the Historic Center were closed where the tent city spread out beyond the Zócalo.  We stopped at a rooftop café next to the ruins of the Aztec temple for something cold to drink.  We could see from there part of the encampment on the Zócalo a couple blocks away.

  

We could also see that visitors were walking through the ruins of the Aztec temple (in the foreground).  So, unlike some previous protests on the Zócalo, access to the ruins and its adjacent museum had not been shut down.

It will be interesting to see how long this protest lasts.