MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexico’s air force flew tons of grain to the southern state of Oaxaca yesterday as protests by teachers opposed to education reform spread across the country and road blocks led to dwindling food supplies in some remote regions.
Tension in the state intensified after eight people died last month in clashes between police and the protesting teachers, and unrest has flared throughout Mexico. Local media reported protests by factions of Mexico’s CNTE teachers union on Friday in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacan, Chiapas, Nuevo Leon and in Mexico City.
The union has blockaded 11 highways in Oaxaca, a hotbed of dissent for protesters opposing President Enrique Pena Nieto’s education reform that allows the federal government to remove teachers who fail evaluation exams.
The protests have prevented food trucks from reaching remote coastal villages in Oaxaca, where some of Mexico’s poorest people live, the country’s federal food distribution chief Juan Manuel Valle said.