Mexican teachers expand protest camp and threaten to shut down the capital

Teachers in Mexico have launched a nationwide strike that is bringing mounting pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government ahead of the start of the soccer World Cup.

On the second day of the walkout, there has been no progress — only rising tensions across Mexico City, where the first groups of teachers began arriving last week. Educators affiliated with the CNTE teachers union are stepping up pressure on the government in an effort to extract concessions before the tournament kicks off on June 11. So far, the Sheinbaum administration has failed to calm the protests.

The sporting event is drawing closer, and Tuesday’s negotiating table with officials from the Interior Ministry, the Education Ministry, and the Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) ended without major progress. The protest camp, a semi-permanent encampment of tents and tarpaulins that are blocking key streets, continues to spread across the main arteries of the city center and by this afternoon had reached Belisario Domínguez Street. Some 12,000 teachers, according to union estimates, are now camped in Mexico City with a set of demands that remain unchanged: repeal of the 2007 ISSSTE law (which weakened pensions and increased retirement age) and the education reform, and a 100% wage increase.

These are, in fact, the same demands as a year ago, when they set up the first protest camp of Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration.

“We are just as — or even more — outraged than we were 18 months ago. We are in the same situation: there has been no response to our demands, and the president has not said when she will meet with the Single Negotiation Committee,” said Marcelino Hernández, the general secretary from Zacatecas, after the first meeting, which resumed on Wednesday morning.

“They tell us they have the political will, but that the president cannot meet because supposedly we stood her up on May 8 of last year. They’re still repeating that same line,” added Elvira Veleces, from Guerrero.

May 8 had been set for the government’s first meeting with teachers after they succeeded in forcing the Mexican president to withdraw her own reform of the ISSSTE law. But the CNTE ultimately rejected the meeting so as not to demobilize workers ahead of the imminent nationwide strike.

The next attempt came two weeks later, but this time it was Sheinbaum herself who called it off, in protest at the blockades in the capital, which had already intensified following the declaration of an indefinite strike.

The strategy of blockades has returned with the same intensity, but with time tighter than ever. Teachers cut off Paseo de la Reforma — the city’s financial hub — on Tuesday morning and toppled several of the large statues installed by the city government for the World Cup, representing “football giants.”

The Zacatecas branch of the left-wing union — split from the larger, more institutional SNTE teachers union, which is closer to the government — proposed extending part of the encampment onto Paseo de la Reforma. But the national assembly has, for now, ruled out relocating, preferring to remain united in the historic center, where the impact is already being felt.

Spain’s Economy Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Cuerpo was forced to meet virtually with Sheinbaum after being unable to reach Mexico’s National Palace, the seat of government. The National Museum of Art (MUNAL) has closed until further notice, citing “circumstances beyond its control,” while vandalism in some areas has forced Mexico City’s local government to carry out rapid repairs ahead of the anticipated sporting event. FIFA has also canceled in-person volunteer training sessions in the Zócalo square, opting instead for online formats, according to El Financiero, for “security reasons.”

Tensions are also rising on the other side. The CNTE has announced that Proceso Columbo, a teacher from Guerrero injured in Monday’s clashes with police, has lost the eye that was struck by a projectile. It is not yet clear whether he has lost his sight entirely or may retain vision in the other eye, as he remains hospitalized awaiting surgery. Mexico City’s security minister, Pablo Vázquez, said Tuesday that authorities will investigate alleged “infiltrators” who took part in Monday’s protests, as claimed by the federal government. Vázquez declined to say whether they belonged to the teaching profession, stating only that they acted “in a manner contrary to that of the vast majority who mobilized.”

Secretary of the Interior Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Secretary of Education Mario Delgado, and Martí Batres, general director of ISSST, who are leading negotiations, reiterated their willingness to remain at the table to avoid further disruption, and reaffirmed the president’s commitment to eliminating USICAMM, the internal promotion system that has generated widespread opposition in the sector.

Although remarks from some regional representatives of the CNTE expressed disappointment with Tuesday’s meeting, they must now consult their bases and the national assembly before deciding on next steps. According to union sources, internal debate is intense. All indications suggest the blockades will continue, given that Sheinbaum’s government has yet to concede on any of the core demands — especially pensions, the sector’s main concern.

Teachers are seeking a return to the public pension model that existed before 2007, when the ISSSTE law governing public-sector retirement was reformed. Since then, pensions have been managed by private administrators known as Afores. While Sheinbaum opposed the reform at the time and is sympathetic to teachers’ demands, she argues that the state cannot afford a full return to the previous system, as the fiscal cost after so many years would be enormous.

Instead, the government, led by the Morena party, has opted to soften some of the reform’s harshest aspects. During the administration of Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Pension Fund for Wellbeing was created, through which the state tops up low private pensions. Under Sheinbaum, additional measures include a gradual reduction in the retirement age for part of the teaching workforce and a 9% pay rise. For teachers, however, this is not enough: they see these as partial measures that leave them vulnerable to future governments.

One year on, both sides find themselves back in the same streets, with the same demands on the table and no clear resolution to the central dispute. The countdown to the World Cup adds a new layer of pressure on all parties. The government does not want to welcome thousands of foreign visitors next week with a protest camp blocking the city center, but teachers are not entirely comfortable with the idea of spoiling the event for their fellow citizens either. They have eight days to reach a deal.

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