Mesa, w/ pants on?

06.07.2004

Mesa's government decided to take a strong line against protesters — especially the striking public teachers. The announcement came shortly after La Paz public teachers kidnapped the vice minister of Education, hospitalizing him. Teachers who didn't return to work today, are supposedly fired. (Let's see how that goes.)

Jose Galindo, the Presidency Minister, had strong words for the teachers:

"When you've lost the capacity to explain your ideas w/ words, you start to shout; when you can't explain yourself w/ shouts, then you start throwing stones, you start going backwards in human development."

Meanwhile, more highways out of La Paz are blockaded. Despite the government announcing it's intention to keep roads open. Roads to Lake Titicaca area are closed. People who live there told anthropologist acquaintances not to head back to their work sites; bloqueadores are pulling people out of vehicles attempting to run the blockades & beating them (same goes for people moving on foot).

The airport's still open. Good news for people flying in/out in the next few days.

Posted by Miguel at 03:17 PM

Comments

Miguel, are they threatening with closing the airports?

Very concerned,

Patty

Posted by: Patty at June 7, 2004 10:50 PM

"The announcement came shortly after La Paz public teachers kidnapped the vice minister of Education, hospitalizing him."

Kidnappers? What in the world!
How much are teachers paid per month?

Posted by: Stephanie at June 8, 2004 11:08 AM

Wow. Hard for me to conceive such an unstable situation.

Those are some bad-ass teachers. Wouldn't want then teaching my kids (if I had any).

Posted by: tom at June 8, 2004 12:26 PM

There's as yet no rumors of closing the airport per se. But if El Alto rises up, then they can easily do so. The city of La Paz is poorly situated since it can be easily cut off from the rest of the country. All highways lead through El Alto, including the road to the airport.

I'm not sure exactly what teachers make. I'm sure it's not much, of course. Still. They have steady employment & work only part of the year in a country w/ high unemployment. They also get lots of bonuses on top of their salaries, which also include bonuses for their rank, etc. So salaries can vary widely.

The only other group that strikes w/ as much frequency as teachers, are medical workers. Believe it or not. And when they strike, they just leave the hospitals staffless.

Posted by: Miguel at June 8, 2004 02:25 PM