A federal cooperation agreement between Mexico’s education ministry and the Cuban government has drawn sharp questions from teachers in Los Cabos, who say officials should solve domestic labor problems before recruiting educators from abroad.
The announcement of the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) partnership with Cuba — designed to support academic mobility and cooperation — struck a nerve among members of the Movimiento Sindical Cabeño, a local teachers’ union that has long pressed for permanent employment contracts for hundreds of Mexican educators stuck in temporary roles.
Luis Miguel Ramírez Rivera, the union’s leader, said the federal plan overlooks an obvious question: why bring in foreign teachers when Mexico already has qualified educators waiting for stable jobs?
“The issue of education must be addressed in a practical way, not by bringing Cuban teachers to give classes in our country,” Ramírez Rivera told El Sudcaliforniano.
Call for Permanent Positions First
The union leader made clear his objection is not to Cuba or to Cuban educators themselves, but to the sequence of priorities. He argued that Mexico’s existing teaching workforce deserves secure employment before the government turns to international recruitment.
“I think it is more important to grant permanent positions to colleagues who are still working as temporary employees,” Ramírez Rivera said.
According to the union, between 300 and 400 teachers in Baja California Sur lose their positions each year due to a lack of available openings in the state education system. Many of those instructors end up taking temporary contracts with no job security, waiting year to year to see if their positions will be renewed.
What This Means for Families and Expats
For foreign residents with children in Mexican public schools or anyone following local education policy, the dispute highlights ongoing tension between federal education initiatives and on-the-ground realities in Baja California Sur. The SEP-Cuba agreement has not yet been implemented locally, and it remains unclear whether or how many Cuban educators might eventually be assigned to schools in Los Cabos or elsewhere in the state.
The broader issue — temporary versus permanent teaching positions — has been a flashpoint for unions across the region. Earlier this year, teachers staged demonstrations in La Paz over contract conditions and pay.
Ramírez Rivera said the union is not opposed to international educational exchange in principle, but insists the federal government should stabilize the domestic teaching workforce first. For now, the question of whether Cuban educators will actually arrive in Los Cabos classrooms remains unanswered — but the local reaction to the idea has already made the federal announcement more complicated than officials likely anticipated.
Source Note: This story is based on original reporting by El Sudcaliforniano. It has been independently rewritten and adapted by the Gringo Gazette for our English-speaking readers, with additional context where appropriate.
