Mexican lawmaker shot dead in restaurant

A Mexican state lawmaker and former teachers' union leader died today after being shot in a restaurant in the southern state of Oaxaca, officials said.
Everardo Hugo Hernandez was having dinner last night in the town of Santa Cruz Xoxocotlan when a man who had entered the restaurant with another person called out his name and shot him at point blank range, the state prosecutor's office said.
Hernandez died in a hospital in the state capital of Oaxaca today, said Jaciel Vazquez Castro, coordinator of the investigative arm of the prosecutor's office.
The state lawmaker was a member of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) that governs Oaxaca.

Hernandez was a teacher and former leader of a section of a teachers' union, the National Education Workers Coordinator (CNTE), which has led protests in Mexico City against the federal government's education reform.
Oaxaca is one of Mexico's poorest states, rife with social conflicts and land disputes.