In the Central Valley of Oaxaca, 45 of the region’s 50 gas stations are dry. For two days dissident teachers have blockaded the regional refinery of the state oil company PEMEX as part of the protests leading up to a boycott of Sunday’s regional elections. Since Monday the 75,000-strong teachers’ union has been on strike against the elections and the so-called “education reforms,” staging sit-ins and blockades throughout the state. Teachers charge that their actions have been distorted in the press and insist that their actions are directed at government authorities and transnational corporations, and not at the community. Although the teachers tried to open the gates of the refinery in the afternoon so that several trucks could leave, federal authorities and PEMEX officials ordered the vehicles to stay put. Clayton Conn reports from Mexico for teleSUR.
