Letter of thanks from CEDEP

Dear comrades,

In the name of the Mexican Students’ Committee to Defend State Education (CEDEP) we would like to thank you all for your messages of solidarity. These were read last week at the meeting of the General Strike Council (CGH) on Thursday, November 18^th and meant a great boost to the morale of the striking students.

In the last two weeks there has been an important event in the development of this 6 month-long strike. The UNAM rector, Barnés was forced to resign. We interpret this as a victory of the students movement. Basically the authorities and the government saw that their attempts to put an end to the strike through repression had failed. They tried to use hired thugs to expell the students from two schools (Acatlán and Prepa 9) and they failed. They tried to frighten the students with more then 350 law suits against leading activists and they failed. They tried to use the anti-riot police against the demonstrations and they failed as was shown by the 50,000 strong demonstration on November 5^th. They had no alternative but to find another way of dealing with the strike. And their man had to go.

However we have no trust and no illusions in the new (undemocratically apointed) rector. He is a representative of the regime all the same. We can only trust in our own forces and the struggle is not over yet. The CGH meeting agreed to challenge the new rector for an open and publicly broadcasted negotiating meeting today, Monday 22^nd. At the same time it was agreed to keep with the protest actions, including a march on Friday.

In the opinion of the CEDEP, the only way out for this struggle is to spread the fight to other universities and schools all over the country and to link up with the labour movement, the only force really able to change society.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement,

Comradely,

Comité Estudiantil en Defensa de la Educación Pública