By Karla Zabkydovsky, New York Times, April 25/26, 2013

[.....] Armed with iron rods and rocks, dozens of masked members of the teachers’ union in Guerrero State attacked the local offices of the four major political parties on Wednesday, smashing windows and overturning furniture. They also set fire to the office of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to which Mr. Peña Nieto belongs.

On Thursday, in a further sign of the growing conflict over education changes, teachers marched down Mexico City’s main boulevard, temporarily closing it down.

The education overhaul, which transfers power from the potent teachers’ union to the federal government, proposes periodic teacher evaluations to determine appointments, salaries and dismissals — a major adjustment for workers who are accustomed to buying or inheriting their positions and who have had, until now, virtual immunity from the state.

The president’s plan, signed into law in February, and the subsequent arrest of the seemingly untouchable boss of the teachers’ union, Elba Esther Gordillo, were seen as political victories for Mr. Peña Nieto [.....]

PHOTO CREDIT: Lenin Ocapmo Torres/European Pressphoto Agency (via NYTimes;) CAPTION: Armed with iron rods and rocks, dozens of masked members of the teachers’ union in Guerrero State attacked the local offices of the four major political parties on Wednesday, smashing windows and overturning furniture.