More Seeking U.S. Asylum to Escape the Violence of Teachers' Protests in Mexico Luis Chaparro - Fusion
go to original August 17, 2016

Almost nine thousand Mexicans applied to the United States for asylum in 2014, saying they feared for their lives. But only 124 were actually granted the right to live in the US. Al Jazeera spoke to one man on the Mexico-US border, who says his life depends on escaping his country. (Al Jazeera English)

The violent standoff between radical factions of a teachers’ union and the Mexican government has led to an unexpected push of emigrants fleeing the south of Mexico to seek asylum at the U.S. border.

A radical faction of teachers known as The National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) has paralyzed several economies in the south of Mexico by blocking roads and clashing violently with police in a prolonged protest that is paralyzing life and business for many people in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca. Tourism has plummeted and the government has resorted to using military planes to fly in food aid into some towns.

CNTE is refusing to accept an education reform signed into law in 2013 by President Enrique Peña Nieto. The most controversial aspect of the reform would oblige teachers to take periodic standardized tests to evaluate their performance in the classroom and raise education standards.

On June 19, riot police are forced to fall back as they battle with protesting teachers who were blocking a federal highway in the state of Oaxaca, near the town of Nochixtlan, Mexico. (AP Photo/Luis Alberto Cruz Hernandez)

The conflict has grown more violent in recent months. Protesters have burned vehicles and vandalized public and private properties. Mexico’s Federal Police was recently embroiled in a scandal after some cops were photographed shooting at demonstrators.

Now hundreds of families who have become stuck in the middle of a war-like scenario are traveling north to seek asylum in the U.S.

Read the rest at Fusion

Related: Dialogue Is the Only Way Out to Teachers Conflict in Mexico (Prensa Latina)

Related: Mexico Public Education Conflict: Problem Lies in State System of Negotiating Deals Instead of Enforcing Laws (Mexico Voices)

Related: Mexico's Secretary of Public Education Says Educational Model Respects Teachers' Rights (Prensa Latina)

Related: Mexico Public Education Conflict: Replacing Manichean Opposition With Common Effort (Mexico Voices)

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