Jhonny Tamayo, president of the National Union of Educators (UNE) of Quito, has not seen his mother, an elderly woman, whom he is in charge of for a month. He hasn’t seen his niece either. Other teachers go 31 days without seeing their 5 and 7 year olds. The teachers’ struggle sharpens in the midst of the silence of the Constitutional Court.
This Wednesday, August 11, Jhonny Tamayo, along with his colleagues, from 11 provinces, completed a month of the hunger strike in defense of the Organic Law of Intercultural Education (LOEI). “It is something very strong that we are going through,” he said.
They never imagined that this measure, as well as the indolence of the Constitutional Court, would last so long. “We think that a maximum of 20 days would pass, but the pressure from the Government and the circles of power so that the Court does not rule soon has made this hunger strike continue,” he criticized.
In the evenings and early mornings, when the cold seeps through the cracks of the tent where he resists his companions together, the longing for his relatives discourages him from continuing, but the just fight – as he describes this strike – keeps him firm. .
The encouragement to continue also comes from third parties. Hugo and Nelly Guevara are the landlords of Fernando Mejía, a teacher who was disengaged at the beginning of the pandemic. They visit him for a day and fear for his health. He is not his relative, but he won his appreciation and today I support him so that he does not falter in this strike. They asked the authorities to address the claims of the teachers.
This Wednesday, another group of education leaders held a sit-in and symbolically chained themselves to the Constitutional Court to demand that they resolve on the constitutionality of the norm, which was contested by several actors, noting that there is no financing for compliance with the law.
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