Oaxaca - The First and Third District Courts handed down 15 arrest warrants against members of the dissident Oaxaca teachers organization: namely, Narciso Pérez Silva, head of Section 22 Legal Department at the National Coordinating Committee of Education Workers (CNTE); Benito Vásquez Henestrosa, CNTE spokesman, and 13 union representatives in the Tuxtepec region.
On July 24, in addition to Peréz Silva and Vásquez Henestrosa, the Federal Judiciary issued [arrest] warrants against José Alberto García Raymundo, Rubén Darío Rodríguez Vidal, Francisco Durán Azamar, Antonio Morales Martínez, Eloy Rivera Córdova, Fernando Rivera Marcelo, Proceso Manzano García, Eleazar López Rubio, Armando Delgado Ortiz, Eleuterio Acevedo Santiago, Antulio Rangel Moreno, José Alfredo García Villanueva and Miguel Ángel Arano Torres.
Their probable involvement was established for committing crimes of rioting, anticipated and sanctioned in Article 131, Section 145, of the Federal Penal Code pertaining to elections, [especially] regarding destruction of electoral packages.
On June 6, three of the teachers against whom the arrest warrants were issued were apprehended in the city of Tuxtepec for their involvement in the burning of electoral packages while federal forces were trying to retake the National Electoral Institute's district office being held by Section 22.
Joaquín Carrillo Ruiz, Attorney General of Oaxaca, pointed out that the [federal] Attorney General's Office (PGR) is holding the legal files [expedientes] against these teachers, because they are charged with federal crimes. Carillo added that the teachers committed actions ranging from taking the Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) supply depot, considered a strategic protected zone, and the burning of electoral packages.
This Tuesday, Section 22 leaders declared their support, through legal means, of union delegates and the labor base in the Papaloapan Basin, the region of the state which is the home of the accuseds. They also announced that on Thursday, Aug. 20 afternoon, after their workday to prepare for the 2015-2016 school year [which begins Monday, Aug. 24], they will hold marches in each of Oaxaca's eight regions. Spanish original