The battle between the dissident teachers of the National Coordination of Educational Workers (CNTE) and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto came to a standstill in late August. The teachers, who have been on strike for over three months, refused to show up for the first day of classes.

Since their strike began in June, the teachers have erected roadblocks and occupied local businesses, paralyzing economic activity in Oaxaca, Chiapas, and other states. To silence them after this international humiliation, Peña Nieto condemned them for compromising the Mexican public’s right to education and refused to negotiate until they went back to work, which they did in early September.

This recent standoff is part of a decades-long battle between CNTE and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which, except for a twelve-year break from 2000–2012, has ruled Mexico since 1929.