Mexico Detains Leader of Dissident Teachers Group in Oaxaca State

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Updated June 12, 2016 11:18 p.m. ET

MEXICO CITYMexican authorities on Sunday detained the leader of a dissident teachers group in the southern state of Oaxaca, the stronghold of teachers opposed to theeducation overhaul implemented by the administration of President Enrique Pea Nieto.

Rubn Nez was arrested on charges of using illegally obtained funds, Mexicos Attorney Generals Office said.

The arrest of Mr. Nez and seven other teachers leaders in Oaxaca in recent weeks, including the groups head of finance, have decimated leadership of the militant CNTE teachers union, a sign the government may be gaining the upper hand against the group, analysts said.

With this bold action, the government seeks to reinforce its commitment to retake control over Mexicos education system, said Marco Fernandez, an education expert at think tank Mexico Evaluates.

A lawyer for Mr. Nez couldnt be reached, while a spokesman for the CNTE in Oaxaca didnt respond to requests to comment. The seven other officials have maintained their innocence, saying the government is conducting a smear campaign.

In an interview last year, Mr. Nez said he was an honest primary schoolteacher fighting for a better public education system. Im clean. As we are fighting Pea Nietos education reform, the government wants to criminalize our organization. But its all false, he said.

Mr. Nez signed agreements with several companies to provide services to the CNTE union. Those services were paid for with union dues, and the companies had given 3.5% of the value of the contracts back to Mr. Nez for his personal use, the Attorney Generals Office said. The amount illegally transferred to Mr. Nez was $1.3 million, it added.

More arrest orders are pending against CNTE members, and authorities are investigating another $7 million in funds that may also have been misused, the Attorney Generals Office said.

The government and the dissident teachers have been locked in often violent disputes since the 2013 overhaul that introduced periodic performance evaluations for public school teachers. The reform sought to establish merit-tested jobs to improve the quality of public education.

Mexico scores the lowest in education among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Recent tests carried out by the Education Ministry revealed that half of high school graduates in Mexico could only manage basic mathematics, and more than half had reading-comprehension problems.

In recent weeks, CNTE members have organized protests in Mexico City and Oaxaca. They have gone on strike in several southern states since mid-May.

The CNTE formally is part of Mexicos national teachers union, but it doesnt recognize the unions official leadership. While the group holds sway in several impoverished states, it is strongest in Oaxaca, where its members make up about 81,000 of the states 83,000 teachers. Nationally, it has around 150,000 members.

The government views the dissident teachers as being in open rebellion against a reform that ends a model in which the national teachers union had largely controlled the hiring, promotion and layoffs of teachers in the country, as well as most of the money channeled to state governments for education services, according to senior government officials.

The teachers say they are trying to avoid privatization of education.

The first teacher performance tests were held this past November, and the Education Ministry laid off around 3,400 teachers who refused to take the exams. Teachers can also be fired if they fail to pass the exam after a third try.

Last year, federal and state governments, seeking to implement the education overhaul, fired and replaced some 300 CNTE members from management positions at Oaxacas education agency. Teachers payrolls were also transferred to the federal government, which now pays the teachers directly.

Write to Juan Montes at juan.montes@wsj.com

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/mexico-detains-leader-of-dissident-teachers-group-in-oaxaca-state-1465780259