The M.A. Times

Rene Gamino, October 25th, 2014

 

          Things got worse when the governor of Mexico Guerrero, Angel Aguirre, asked for a leave of absence. Already José Luis Abarca, the mayor of the southern city of Iguala, and his wife were wanted, and on the run.

         For those of you who are uninformed or not watching their good old news channel, nearly a month ago, 57 students were reported missing after their involvement in numerous protests against the suspected corruption of local city offices and the police department. The wide spread suspicion was confirmed when the large number of students were reported missing.

           The events began small. Two students, Jorge Alexis Herrera Pino and Gabriel Echeverría de Jesús, from the Rural Teachers College Raúl Isidro Burgos of Ayotzinapa were shot down by the State Police of Guerrero Mexico while they were rallying in the federal highway of "Cuernavaca – Acapulco" on December 2011. The Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers College of Ayotzinapa has always been proud of its revolutionary zeal. Their protest against the Education Reform, which was formed under the Pact of Mexico and a national political agreement signed on December 2, 2012 by the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto was one of their most public fights. The national agreement, which was passed under three political parties, was based under the principles of democratization, strength, and political development. All previous appointments of teachers, principals, and administrators, which did not conform to the new procedures, were nullified.

           After a series of protest concerning the Education Reform and other issues, the event escalated on the September 26. Six people were killed and 17 injured when police and unidentified gunmen shot at the protesters and opened fire on a bus in the town of Iguala, Guerrero. Policemen report that they believed the students were escaping and hitchhiking their local buses as well as seizing the bus. The cops gave chase and arrested the students. The story took a turn when the students were last seen in custody, but were reported by Guerrero authorities as never having been arrested.

          It was only then that the students were considered missing. The situation becomes bleak and sinister when student Julio César Mondragón was found mutilated on the day of a protest. That day, Mondragón's corpse was found tortured with his head flayed and his eyes gouged out. The situation grew even more ominous and dark when security forces found burned human remains in mass graves on the edge of the town. The sinister grave site was found in the misfortunate Pueblo Viejo district of Iguala, which is about 200 kilometers south of Mexico City. In response to the found bodies, a large amount of the relatives of the missing students handed in DNA materials to identify the bodies. After the tests, the Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo answered the circulating questions concerning the possible link between the students' disappearances and the mass graves: not a single corpse found in the mass graves belonged to the students.

          The link was uncovered when 22 municipal police officers were arrested. They were deemed as infiltrated by the infamous Guerreros Unidos, "one of a handful of small trafficking organizations operating in the state focused on controlling opium paste stockpiles made from poppies grown in the surrounding mountains" [Tuckman]. It was widely suspected that the mayor and his wife had connections with the criminal gang, the mayor's wife was the sister of a well-known member. After the arrest of the leader, it was confirmed that the two were in cahoots with the criminal gang, who saw the students as a threat to their influence over the city.

         Since then, actions have been taken in protest and in memory of the students whose corpses have not yet to be found. On Wednesday, masked protesters set fire to the regional office of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution in the state capital, Chilpancingo. It consumed part of the building. Protesters made their message clear when they turned over a car and spray-painted surrounding walls. The slogan, “We want them back alive” was found. More peaceful protests were made in Venezuela. Students protested at the Central University of Venezuela, one student declared, “We are making their rage ours”. (referring to the missing students' previous protests)

The event has been presented as only a part of the pattern of growing violence across Mexico. What appears to be only a series of violent protests surrounding the Education Reform has been revealed to be a large drug-gang related conspiracy that has yet to be resolved. The conspiracy has been infamously named the 2014 Iguala massacre.

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

• Azul, Rafael. "World Socialist Web Site." Mass Protests in Mexico over Iguala Massacre -. International Committee of the Fourth International, 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

• "Governor Says Human Remains Found in Mexico Mass Grave Had Been Burned." The Guardian. Guardian News, 5 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

• Improving education in Mexico: A state-level perspective from Puebla. OECD. 2013. p. 58. ISBN 978-92-64-20019-7. Retrieved 3 February 2014.

• Johnson, Tim. "At College of Missing Mexican Students, History of Revolutionary Zeal." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

• Johnson, Tim. "IGUALA, Mexico: Protesters Burn City Hall in Mexico Town Where 43 Students Vanished." News Observer. The News & Observer Publishing Co., 22 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

• "La Jornada: Aterrado, Julio César Mondragón se echó a correr; al otro día apareció sin rostro". Jornada.unam.mx. Retrieved 12 October 2014.

• "Matan policías a dos estudiantes al desalojar un bloqueo carretero" (in Spanish). La Jornada. 12 December 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2014.

• "Mexico Says Students Not Among Dead in Mass Grave - NBC News." NBC News. Reuters, 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

• Romo, Rafael. "Mexican Governor Steps aside after Student Kidnappings."CNN. Cable News Network, 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

• "Search on for 57 Students Missing in Mexico's Guerrero State." The Guardian. Guardian News, 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

• Tuckman, Jo. "Mexican Mayor and Wife Wanted over Disappearance of 43 Students." The Guardian. Guardian News, 23 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.