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Local merchants in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca say the federal government is exaggerating when they claim that their region is suffering a shortage of supplies and food as a result of road blockades by striking teachers.
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An investigation by online portal Desinformemonos conducted in Oaxaca and published Thursday revealed that stores and markets were well stocked.
Vendors said there was a slight delay in deliveries in the period immediately following the incident in the town of Nochixtlan that saw police use live ammunition against demonstrators, leading to the death of at least nine people.
However shortly afterward, deliveries and the prices of goods returned to normal.
The head of management at Diconsa, a network of stores that serve marginalized communities, told Desinformemonos that out of 2,457 stores, 1,000 were stocked up at 70 percent.
The government of Enrique Peña Nieto is engaged in a campaign to try to convince the public that demonstrations by the CNTE teachers union have become a threat to the public.
"Well, we think and we have said from the beginning that nothing should be above the basic needs of the population, of the basic needs of their families, their neighbours, their communities, which are being severely affected due to these interruptions in their economy but also in their daily supply," said Social Development Minister Jose Antonio Meade on Friday.
The government even ordered a military plane with 18 tonnes of basic food products to fly to remote regions to restock supplies.
Meade added that more flights are scheduled to deliver goods to people living along the coast.
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The CNTE, however, has accused the government of deliberately exaggerating the interruption of delivery of food and supplies in order to justify the clearing of road blockades with force.
The union said they will maintain their roadblock as part of their protests against the government's controversial education reform.
However, union leaders said they would allow buses, gasoline trucks, and delivery vehicles to pass their roadblocks. They specified that companies known to have supported the government or the education reform would continue to be impeded.
Local businessman Claudio Gonzalez has created a group called Front for the Defense of the Right of Children to Learn to lobby the government to clear the road blockades by force.
The state of Chiapas experience a recent gasoline shortage but supplies are reported to have returned to normal.
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