Veracruz /
In the Magic Town of Coscomatepec, Veracruz, armed men entered a kindergarten to attempt to deprive of liberty to a person.
The incident occurred a week ago in a kindergarten in the center of the municipal capital.
Since then, the school has remained without classes, as teachers and parents fear for the safety of their children and teachers, since security has not been reinforced, said the general secretary of the Section 32 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE), Daniel Covarrubias.
“On Tuesday or Wednesday, a very serious incident occurred, where they entered a garden, there was a shooting, in Coscomatepec, so we are under that pressure because our colleagues are obviously worried, they are scared, it was an attempted kidnapping of someone, we do not know who; They entered kindergarten“, he said.
The leader of the SNTE He said that they are in talks with officials from the Ministry of Education to strengthen security, something that has not happened so far.
He noted that as teachers they depend entirely on state security and expect surveillance must be strengthened to resume classes.
The criminals entered the preschool, where there were dozens of children, teachers and parents. Luckily There were no victimsbut they were afraid of what had happened and therefore suspended classes.
The interviewee commented that, during the school year, they had not had serious security incidents like the one in Coscomatepec, but rather “isolated facts”.
Regarding changes in assignment due to fear and insecurity, he said that, if they have changes in several municipalities in the state, those affected should report the situation to the state prosecutor’s office so that they can proceed to initiate the process of changing assignment.
Victims of extortion
On the other hand, the general secretary of the Union of Workers in the Service of Education (SETSE), Genovevo Zapot Zapotnoted that Several union members have been victims of extortion.
He said that there are teachers at SETSE who are victims of extortion and assaults by criminals who operate through telephone calls.
Interviewed after the honor guard before the monument of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in the Los Berros park in Xalapa, the union leader explained that The cases have occurred in the north and center of the state..
“These are cases of extortion, one in the north of Veracruz and another in the central region. They operate through phone calls, extortions, and there was an assault and a case of extortion. They told her that if they kept seeing her there, things would go badly for her, and we decided to change them for her safety.”
He commented that when these cases occur, teachers are changed immediately to avoid putting them at greater risk since they have also been victims of threats.
Zapot Zapot commented that once teachers are protected, it takes at most a month before they are sent to another workplace.
“We protect them in coordination with the Ministry of Education and in a matter of 15, 20 days, or at most a month, they are already in their new assignment.”
Teachers fear ‘kidnappings’
On September 13th, the General Secretary of the Teachers’ Union (ADDITION), Maria Minelia Cordoba Herrerahad reported that many of the teachers no longer want to go to work at schools in Omealca and the area bordering Oaxaca for fear of being “raised”.
He assured at that time that at least twenty teachers They had been victims of deprivation of liberty and assaults in the sugarcane area of Omealca, which borders the municipalities of Tezonapa and Cuichapa, Veracruz, as well as Cosolapa, Oaxaca.
“We have quite a few cases of insecurity, especially in Omealca, they tell us that there are kidnappings and even shootings, we have reported around 20 cases“, the union leader said on that occasion.
The mayor of Omealca, Nallely Cortes Jiménez, had denied such acts of violence against teachers.
HAGU
