Teachers convene a sectoral congress and withdraw their delegates before the COB

teachers across the country called a national conference on May 24 and 25, in which they analyzed the recent mobilizations and made determinations. They decided to call a sectoral congress to define their actions for the Education Congress convened by the Government and ordered their delegates to the Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB) to withdraw until they changed the Executive Committee of the labor entity.

“We see ourselves in need of convene an Educational Congress of Urban Teachers to elaborate an educational proposal that serves as a tool and guideline to face the Plurinational Educational Congress, warning the government of Luis Arce Catacora that the Urban Teachers will not allow this great event to be a partisan political scenario, as it intends to do, ”says the first part of the resolutions approved in the town of Aiquile, Cochabamba.

Between February and April of this year the teachers staged a national mobilization that ended with the uncovering of three leaders on May 5, that day wildebeesteve weeks of protests in search of a list of five points that the Government refused to attend to.

The teachers decided to stop contributing to the COB and they ordered their delegates to withdraw until the parent entity of the workers convenes a congress to change the current cobist structure, they described the executive, Juan Carlos Guarachi as a “traitor to the labor movement and sold out to the current government.”

“The delegates of the Urban Teaching in the CEN of the current COB, they must withdraw to the bases until said Congress is convened. The CTEUB will get in touch with other national organizations from other sectors of workers in order to pressure and make viable the realization of said workers’ congress”, indicates another part of that resolution.

In addition, They rejected the mandatory retirement proposed by the Government up to 65 years and demanded respect for teachers who intend to continue working. They also rejected the criminalization of the protest as happened in the mobilizations of previous months where the teachers were apprehended and subjected to precautionary measures.

“Do not allow the treatment, much less the materialization of no bill that intends to retire on a mandatory basis to the workers of the country, since it is a right of the workers and this must be voluntary within the framework of international treaties”, refers to the fourth point of the document.

Without calling for new mobilizations teachers declared a state of emergency and they asked other organizations in the country to join a national protest against the abuses of the Government.