ARGENTINA
Neuquen follows Oaxaca’s example
Walter Yoia
12 April 2007
In actions that have echos of the struggle in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, teachers and their union have installed themselves outside the governor’s office in the southern province of Neuquen, calling for better salaries and governor Jorge Omar Sobisch’s resignation.
The campsite will remain until the demands are met, a union official told Clarin on April 9. This followed a rally and march in the middle of the provincial capital’s CBD. The actions were organised in response to the April 4 killing of university professor Carlos Fuentealba, who was hit in the head by a police tear-gas canister fired at short range. Fuentealba was killed when teachers attempted to block a road to press their case for a pay rise.
The protesters painted the windows and doors of the governmental building black as a sign of mourning. Signs were also pasted on the walls expressing the people’s anger against that the repression the teachers had faced.
The Clarin reported that the professor’s sister spoke on the morning of the day’s action and called for struggle, saying her brother was “killed because he struggled”.
The governor accepted the resignation of his education and security ministers on April 12, but this failed to halt the teachers’ protest outside his office.
Other sectors, such as health workers, have joined the protests and are also calling for higher wages, reported the April 11 Pagina12.
