Dec 13, 2011

Mexico Human Rights Abuses: Guerrero students say they were unarmed and blame the governor

Here is more on the killing of teacher college students during a demonstration in the state of Guerrero and government accusations that some were armed. Translated by MexicoBlog

CNN Mexico: Students at the Ayotzinapa Normal School (Teachers College) blamed the governor of Guerrero, Angel Aguirre Rivero, for violently suppressing their peaceful protest and causing the deaths of two protesters. They also called for the governor's resignation.

Representatives of the students confirmed that during the clash on Monday they were completely unarmed and they reject the state government's charges that they carried some guns, including an AK-47. "It is false that we began the attack with firearms; we were totally unarmed. At no time were we armed. Our companions were forced to give false testimony to blame us for crimes we did not commit, " student Jersey Peñaloza said at a press conference.

... According to Manuel Olivares, also a student of the normal school, another student named Gerardo Torres Perez told him that he was arrested and tortured by police agents, who forced him to take an AK-47... and shoot it five times in order to accuse him of starting the shooting.

Students Alexis Herrera Jorge Pino and Gabriel Echeverria Jesus died in the fighting. Three others were injured, one critically. 

The students clarified that a number of young people are missing because some are hiding and others were detained without formal notification to their families. According to the Attorney General of the state, twenty students who were arrested during the clash on Monday were released on Tuesday.

Hegel Ramirez, a lawyer representing Gerardo Torres, confirmed that his client remains in detention, accused by the state authorities of carrying and firing an AK-47.

Among the demands of the Normal School protest on Monday afternoon were having automatic employment in the state education system after completing their studies... and that the governor had cancelled the meetings that he had promised to have with the students. Original in Spanish 

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