patth@ccnysci.UUCP (08/20/89)
Ported from PeaceNET
/* Written 12:21 am Aug 17, 1989 by cries in cdp:cries.regionews */
/* ---------- "Guat: I'view with Strike Leader" ---------- */
GUATEMALA: INTERVIEW WITH TEACHERS' STRIKE LEADER
Werner Freddy Miranda Calderon is the Secretary-General of
the National Association of Mid-level Educators (ANEEM), one
of seven organizations participating in the teachers' strike
underway in Guatemala since April 29. Interview conducted in
Guatemala City on August 8 by Marta Zamora.
********************
**Q. What led up to the strike?
**A. The strike, beginning on April 29, was all-out and
massive, encompassing all the teachers' organizations by May
13. Because of pressures from [the private sector
organization] CACIF and the army, the Economy Minister broke
the agreements reached last year between the UASP [Union of
Labor and Popular Action] and the government which had set
price controls on basic goods such as rice, beans, sugar,
corn, salt, flour, and some meat products. The prices were
freed up.
This happened in order to appease the oligarchy after the May
11 [1988] technical coup d'etat. Our salaries have been the
same since the time when the "quetzal" was on a par with the
US dollar. Now, it changes at a rate of 2.7 to one officially
and on the black market it goes for between 2.75 and 2.9 to
one. A real drop in our salaries is the result. We've
suffered from 300% inflation for most things and up to 600%
for some.
By May 13, the government had only promised to look into
salary adjustments for 1990. We know there are funds to give
us a raise, but the government has diverted them to finance
propaganda for Alfonso Cabrera, the chosen candidate of
[President Vinicio] Cerezo. [Guatemala will celebrate
presidential elections early next year and the parties are
currently in the process of selecting their candidates.] As
well, on Army Day, June 30, Cerezo authorized pay raises for
the officers.
**Q. How many teachers are there in Guatemala and what salary
do they receive?
**A. There are 38,000 teachers and 4000 service and
administration workers. At present, 25,000 of us are still on
strike for an indefinite period of time.
The base salary is 340 "quetzales" [aprox. US$125] a month
for teachers in primary schools and 420 [US$155] a month for
secondary school teachers.
We want to ask for international aid since the striking
companeros are living in a precarious situation - without
salaries for three months - and we don't know when the
government's intransigence will end despite the fact that we
have been backing down on our economic demands.
**Q. Are the political parties involved in the strike?
**A. They aren't interested in it because they're even more
to the right than the government.
**Q. The government fired 572 directors and supervisors and
has begun to replace them. Does it have the ability to
substitute that many trained teachers?
**A. They don't want quality; they want submission. The new
"directors" are there to prevent us from meeting in the
schools. They will be direct agents who will report on anyone
raising demands.
**Q. What is the education budget?
**A. It is 300 million "quetzales" or 1.8% of the Gross
Domestic Product. We're the second country in terms of
investing the least in education in all of Latin America;
only Haiti does less. Because of this, illiteracy is
maintained. Officially, the illiteracy rate is 52%, but CEPAL
[Economic Commission for Latin America] reports that it's 70%
in the urban areas and 92% in the rural areas which makes for
a global figure of 80% illiteracy in the country.
In Guatemala, there are two soldiers for every teacher. This
doesn't take into account the so-called "civil patrols" which
oblige campesinos to work for the army. If they refuse, they
will be called "communists" and that means they could be
disappeared or murdered. Afterwards, the blame is placed on
the guerrillas.
**Q. What are your demands?
**A. We have stepped back on our initial demand of a 200
"quetzal" raise. In other words, we've given up the economic
demands despite being sure that the government - as it showed
by giving a raise to the military - has the capacity and
obligation to meet them. The government's decision is in line
with the political priority of favoring repression. The first
priority for the budget is to pay the foreign debt and the
second is the military.
We have placed priority on an end to corruption, rejection of
changes to the curriculum, an end to the high cost of living,
compliance with the agreements reached last year between the
government and the UASP, reintegration of the 572 fired
directors and supervisors, and pay for the month of July and
for those who continue to the end of the strike. In order not
to adversely affect the students, we've proposed to the
government that we work during the vacation period in order
to make up for the time lost because of the strike. So far
the government remains intransigent.
On July 3, we went to the National Palace for an audience
offered us by the Minister of Education, but it was a trap.
The meeting didn't happen and they made us leave through the
back door where anti-riot police were waiting for us. They
beat us and arrested 21 of the 44 in the delegation, 18 men
and 3 women. We were taken to jail like common criminals. We
were freed because of pressure from the people who held a
demonstration which the press called "monstrous". There
hasn't been a similar-sized demonstration in years.
In another round of negotiations, Cerezo didn't accept that
we spoke in an affirmative tone about the companeros who had
been fired. He got up and left us to talk with a commission
which had no decision making power. We couldn't reach any
agreement because Cerezo had already said he wouldn't accept
the reintegration of the 572 people who were fired.
Behind all this is the pressure from CACIF and the military.
Since the technical coup d'etat of May 11, 1988 and the one
this year, Cerezo doesn't run the government.
**Q. What curriculum changes is the government proposing?
**A. It's pushing for education reforms in order to produce a
cheap workforce and to guarantee more exploitation within the
framework of the counter-insurgency project. It wants to
change the education system in order to serve the oligarchy
by producing a low cost workforce for its plans to modernize
the economy. It wants to prepare students to sell their labor
at a low price and an early age. The quality of education
will go down. Although the government says the opposite, it's
seeking to have people think less about their rights. That's
why it opposes including studies about human rights or the
Constitution in school programs.
We're in favor of a reform which would promote, instead of a
bilingual education, a pluricultural one after consulting
with the Indian communities. UNESCO is giving the government
$37 million for its reform and it should reconsider this and
listen to the teachers of Guatemala.
**Q. What are the perspectives for the strike?
**A. Continue forward until the government recognizes our
demands. They don't apply just to teachers but to everyone,
especially since we've made the sacrifice of giving up our
economic demands even though they're just.
---
Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
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