Mexico City, June 21 (RHC)-- Teachers strikes in Oaxaca have escalated as more armed police mobilize to the south, ending with the death of nine civilians on Sunday.  A journalist in Oaxaca was reportedly shot dead while covering the teacher’s blockade of a main highway.

Eligio Ramos Zarate, reporter at El Sur that went by the pseudonym Guillermo Parie, was shot in the neck by two motorcyclists who are still unidentified as he was photographing the holdup of a convenient store nearby.

The state agency for investigations said it has not confirmed any motive, but that Ramos Zarate had connections to someone who “supposedly committed illegal acts,” reported El Proceso.   

The state of Oaxaca has been under fire during escalating strikes by the SNTE teachers union, affiliated with the CNTE, against neoliberal education reforms.  The blockade of Canal 33 of a major highway that began last week was met with 900 police.  Teachers called for the release of two of their union leaders, who were detained under what they call bogus claims.

Violence against journalists in Mexico is among the worst in the world, with a reporter attacked every 22 hours, according to a new report.  Attacks rose by 22 percent last year.