Families of Missing Students Claim Harassment by Mexican Authorities

Latin American Herald Tribune: Families of the 43 students who went missing more than two months ago in southern Mexico have claimed the government is harassing organizations supporting them in their quest for justice.

At a press conference Thursday, the families blamed the authorities for this week’s attempted kidnapping and beating of a student who was also threatened for taking part in protests demanding that the missing students be returned alive. Read more. 

Mexico says evidence proves missing students were burned up

Reuters: "This scientific proof confirms that the remains found at the scene coincide with the evidence of the investigation," Murillo said. "We will continue with the probe until all the guilty have been arrested."Attorney General Jesus Murillo told reporters that one of the students had been identified by experts in Austria from a bone fragment in a bag of ash and bits of burned tire found in a river where drug gang members said they tossed the students remains.

President Enrique Pena Nieto is facing his deepest crisis over his government's handling of the probe. The case laid bare Mexico's deep problem of impunity and corruption and it has overshadowed Pena Nieto's efforts to focus on economic reforms.  Read more. 

Outrage as Mexico's Attorney General Says Missing Ayotzinapa Students Are Dead

Global Voices: Shot, burned in a garbage dump and thrown into a muddy river in black plastic bags. That was the fate of the 43 missing student teachers, known as normalistas in Spanish, who vanished on September 26, 2014, according to Mexico's federal attorney general on November 7.

Jesus Murillo Karam‘s words were met with disbelief, anger and indignation not only by the students’ families, but also by people throughout Mexico and the world because they rely on the confessions of three drug cartel hit men, not conclusive evidence — human remains discovered near a landfill based on their information haven't been identified yet. Read more. 

Mexico Police Clash With Protesters Opposing Pena Nieto Plan

Bloomberg 
By Nacha Cattan and Eric Martin
October 3, 2013

Mexico City police blocked the entrance to the stock exchange yesterday as thousands rallied on the main business boulevard and clashed with officers to protest President Enrique Pena Nieto’s economic agenda.

Police said about 30,000 students, teachers and supporters closed off the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard, with hundreds outside the Bolsa Mexicana (BOLSAA) and U.S. Embassy. Officers clad in riot gear used fire extinguishers and tear gas to defend themselves against protesters attacking with sticks, rocks and Molotov cocktails in the capital’s historic center. Thirty two officers were injured and 102 protesters detained, Mexico City police said in a statement.  Read more. 

Protesters clash with police in Mexico City

Hurriyet Daily News 
Mexico City - Agence France-Presse


Protesters clashed with riot police in Mexico City on Wednesday, leaving dozens injured as thousands of people marched to mark the anniversary of a massacre of students in 1968.

The Red Cross said at least 51 people were injured as a group of masked protesters threw rocks and firebombs at police who used tear gas and threw stones back at them.

The city's public security department said 32 officers were injured by mostly masked and "self-declared anarchists." At least 97 people were detained.  Read more. 

69 People Jailed Following Violent Mexico Protests

ABC News By Manuel Rueda
Dec. 4, 2012

Sixty-nine people have been sent to jail in Mexico City, for allegedly destroying businesses and public property during protests held on Saturday against Mexico's new president.

These detainees, who were in temporary detention centers until Monday, have been charged with "rioting," and "disturbing the public peace," and if convicted could face five to 30 years in jail.

But the charges brought against these 69 individuals have been vehemently rejected by social movements who participated in Saturday's protests against Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. These groups are accusing police of using excessive force on Saturday and of imprisoning the 69 protesters as an intimidation tactic.


On Monday afternoon, members of the YoSoy132 Student Movement, the Communist Party and a half dozen more political groups held a rally at Mexico City's Independence Monument to call for the liberation of these detainees.

"They weren't doing anything but voicing their opposition against an imposed president who is bad for the country," said Aura Sorita, holding a poster with the pictures of two university students. Sorita's friends, Mary Montezuma and Obed Palgod, were detained during Saturday's protests and are now being held in separate Mexico City penitentiaries.  Read more. 

“As long as poverty exists, rural normal schools will not disappear”

Desinformémonos

Americas Program Original Translation

Present during a police operation that the government of Michoacán launched against the normal schools in Tiripetío, Aretaga and Cherán on October 15, Camilo, a student and son of a farmer, tells how a young person’s life changes upon entering this institution.

TESTIMONY RECORDED BY ADAZAHIRA CHÁVEZ IN MEXICO CITY

My name is Camilo Ceja Durán, I come from the community of Tzintzuntzan, near the lakeshore of Pátzcuaro. My mother is a homemaker and performs seasonal work in the field; like the majority of students in rural normal schools, I am the son of farmers.

I decided to study in the Normal School because the economic resources in my family are not sufficient to enter the university, I wanted to study a major like Accounting or Law. The other issue that influenced me was seeing the teachers in the community, they are impressive, we worship them because they have greater knowledge. In my community there are teachers that deserve the respect to truly be called teachers, they are role models for families and the community.

Protests erupt in Mexico as Senate mulls labor reform bill

Global Post: Alex Pearlman October 17, 2012 

Violence leaves over one hundred people arrested and schools shut down, as the Mexican legislature attempts to pass controversial labor reform laws.

A tense raid took place yesterday in Mexico's Michoacan state, as student protesters faced off against police after repeated hijackings and more than a week of protests against curriculum changes. 

Police stormed three campuses, where students held buses and delivery trucks hostage, according to the BBC. Over 100 people were arrested and both protesters and police were injured. 

According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, students also set 13 vehicles on fire in the latest and most violent of the many protests sweeping across Mexico since late September. 

The students were protesting a planned change in the curriculum of their schools, known as normal schools, which prepare students for careers in teaching. They say learning English and computer science shouldn't be priorities for the rural areas they'll be working in, and had taken control of three sister campuses earlier this month. Read more. 

#Yo Soy 132 Garners International Support

#YoSoy132 New York in Action. 

Americas Program: Mexico City - Mexico's student-led resistance movement, #Yo Soy 132, has been gathering global support since May of this year. The movement that started just four months ago in Mexico has become a leading force for democracy, and against what it considers to be the "imposition" of presumed president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto.

Just after the group’s inception the #YoSoy132 movement began forming groups, or “cells”, beyond Mexico´s borders. Mexican youth and their supporters have organized actions of international solidarity in Argentina, Barcelona and Paris and dozens of other cities.The protests against the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), election fraud, and biases in elections reporting by the mainstream Mexican media, now find their way into newspapers on several continents.

In Mexico, Yo Soy 132 ponders next step

LA Times: Yo Soy 132 ('I am 132'), a student movement disenchanted with Mexico's democracy, says it wants to keep the PRI on its toes, even if the election is over.

Richard Fausset. MEXICO CITY — Here they were again, marching through the dark and the rain — the preppies from private universities, the hipsters in fat-lace skater sneakers, the young intellectuals with faces framed in wispy Che Guevara beards, the regular kids with backpacks and smartphones. Read more.

Youth agree on a peaceful demonstration at Televisa

- In the event of any provocation, protestors will sit on the floor.
El Universal: Americas Program Original Translation  (See Spanish Original)
The People’s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), the Mexican Electrician’s Union (SME), and the National Committee of Education Workers (CNTE), support the civil and peaceful demonstration that includes the “symbolic take” of Televisa by the #Iam132 movement, as part of their actions against what they call the "imposition" of Enrique Pena Nieto as president of Mexico.

This coming Friday, universities and organizations will set up a “human circle” around the Chapultepec Televisa that will last for 24 hours, in which they will prevent access to the company’s facilities, but will not obstruct the way out for staff.

In a press conference, the participants said that in the event of any provocation they will not respond with violence, instead, will only sit on the floor.

“No one will march with a hood or with their face concealed, nor will anyone carry objects or weapons…no one will be allowed to participate under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” they said.

With respect to the demonstrations planned for the Televisa facilities in the other Mexican states, the local assemblies called for avoiding any provocation.

The “human circle” will be formed from Thursday, the 26th, at 8:00 pm, congregating in the Revolution Monument, and from this point march toward the Televisa at Chapultepec.

Thousands turn out to march against election results in Mexico

AP: MEXICO CITY – Thousands marched through Mexico City's center on Sunday to protest what they called the "imposition" of the candidate of the old ruling party as the country's new president.

Protesters carried signs accusing presumed President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto of electoral fraud and Mexico television giant Televisa of being a "factory of lies." Opponents say Pena Nieto's party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, won the July 1 election through vote-buying and overspending, including paying major media outlets such as Televisa for favorable coverage. Read more.

Mexico student movement plans more protests against Peña Nieto

latimes.com: MEXICO CITY -- The student-led movement that emerged in Mexico against president-elect Enrique Peña Nieto is planning another round of protests Sunday. The protests are part of a wave of demonstrations that began almost spontaneously during the presidential campaign and appear to still be drawing big crowds since the July 1 election.

The #YoSoy132 movement, or "I Am 132," said it will call demonstrations in "all public plazas" and at the presidential residence Los Pinos in Mexico City, in rejection of Peña Nieto's victory by more than 3 million votes over his nearest rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Read more.

#IAm132 demands that the TEPJF give credibility to the election

La Jornada: Americas Program Original Translation by Ryan Gentzler

See Spanish Original.

- Presents action proposal “to protect democracy”
- If the authority ignores complaints, there will be a “risk of social unrest”

Emir Olivares and Laura Poy. The commission of citizen’s watch and the #IAm132 movement’s legal and human rights committees presented a plan of action to “protect democracy, demand a clean electoral process, demand the invalidation of the presidential election and prevent the imposition [of Enrique Peña Nieto],” which includes participation in this Sunday’s “megamarch.”

Representatives of both organizations clarified that several points of the plan must be approved by the interuniversity congress that will be held on July 28 and 29 in Morelia, Michoacán.

In the press conference, they called on the Electoral Tribunal of Judicial Power (TEPJF) to “give credibility” to the election and contribute to cleaning up the polls, and said that calling them clean, equitable and transparent “would send a very bad message to society. The assessment of the electoral process has already been given by the citizens and it doesn’t favor the PRI’s candidate.”

They warned that if the electoral authorities ignore “the thousands of citizen complaints (about alleged irregularities) documented up to this point, it would be a step towards a serious risk of social unrest.”

Plan to “take on and surround” Televisa and boycott Soriana and Wal-Mart

La Jornada: Americas Program Original Translation
See Spanish Original.
- National demonstration against fraud, meeting in Atenco

Laura Poy Solano and Javier Salinas Cesáreo. San Salvador Atenco, Méx., July 15th. On participating on the first National Convention Against the Imposition, representatives of at least 300 organizations achieved a national central focus of action that will bring together students, farmers, workers, unions and teachers, who will drive national demonstrations, boycott companies that participated in fraud, occupy public plazas and “take on and surround” the Televisa facilities throughout the country, with the objective of preventing Enrique Peña Nieto from assuming presidency.

Members of the #Iam132 movement, Villages in Defense of Land Front (FPDT), Mexican Electricians Union (SME) and the National Committee of Education Workers (CNTE), among others, approved of having a national march this July 22nd in the capital of the country, while on Friday the 27th, they will call for action against the television company, among other measures, even though they will postpone for the second convention, to be carried out the 22nd and 23rd of September in Oaxaca, the plan for action that will take place between November 20th to December 1st.

For more than five hours, the 2,600 delegates and representatives of 29 organizations, according to figures from the organizers, discussed more than 200 mobilization proposals. August 4th was the date agreed on to convene in Jalisco for the meeting for the provisional national committee to organize its second convention. Likewise, on Friday the 8th, they will call their first national community protest and test out a general strike.

Students march against Mexico's election result

AP: MEXICO CITY – Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Mexico's capital on Saturday to protest Enrique Pena Nieto's apparent win in the country's presidential election, accusing his long ruling party of buying votes.

The protesters were angered by allegations that Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party gave out bags of groceries, pre-paid gift cards and other goods to voters ahead of July 1 national elections.

The students, unionists and leftists in the march carried signs reading, "Pena, how much did it cost to become president?" and "Mexico, you pawned your future for 500 pesos." Mexico City officials put the size of the crowd that reached its central Zocalo plaza at 50,000. Read more.

Photos: Marches against electoral fraud and Pena Nieto

The day after the election, and the day after that, the #Iam132 student movement organized peaceful demonstrations in Mexico City protesting electoral fraud and Enrique Pena Nieto.

Photos taken by Rafael Stedile.

Election “full” of irregularities, concludes #YoSoy132

El Proceso: Americas Program Original Translation
See Spanish Original.
Mexico City – Based in an encampment at the Revolution Monument and with a “Peace Room,” or center of operations, in a residence in the south of the city, the members of the movement #Iam132 reported that the electoral day was “full” of irregularities and a "wave of violence."

Calling for 3,000 observers and committees to register witness reports and by means of social networks, the students documented around 500 reports of irregularities, they said through different press releases and a press conference at the Revolution Monument.

“Up until now there are more than 500 reports of irregularities, among them some are serious offenses: it has been registered that police have robbed ballot boxes and that there have been shootings. Also, we received an extreme case in which poll workers were kidnapped. In Pueblo Nuevo, Chiapas, armed groups entered the voting stations and there were two deaths. In San Miguel Totolopan, Guerrero, we found out that they filled ballot boxes. In San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, armed groups with submachine guns fired at voters. In Ensenada, Baja California, a voting employee disappeared with 2500 ballots,” said Sandino Bucio, and announced that all the documentation that was gathered will be given to Fepade [the special federal investigative unit for electoral crime] to make their case.

Of the reports received throughout the country, they said that 46% related to vote buying; 30% voting irregularities; 19% related to propaganda. In spite of the close of the election, these isolated cases can affect many.

The states with the most “controversies,” according to reports, were Mexico State, Veracruz, Tabasco and Chiapas.

What does #Iam132 mean for Mexican youth?

El Pais: Americas Program Original Translation by Anna Moses
See Spanish Original.
The aspirations of young Mexicans are very different, and equally real, like the slogan of a student protest in Mexico City- "Be informed, vote, and turn off the stupid television"- and painted on a wall in a provincial town: "I would prefer to die young and rich than old and broken like my father."

The first phrase is a slogan of the "I am #132" movement, the first far-reaching political youth movement of the century, the modern, urban and technological face of the new generation. A critical wave that began in the social networks in May, the movement took to the streets of the capital with a tide of young people that denounced the supposed alliance between the big communication networks and the PRI candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto, front runner for the elections on July 1st.

The movement threw the PRI campaign into confusion and damaged the PRI’s voting expectations, however, not bringing it down from its first place in the polls, and had such an influence that three of the four candidates- with the exception of Peña Nieto- participated in a student-organized debate.

The other phrase is on a wall in Culiacán, capital of Sinaloa province. The quote is from the writer, Humberto Padgett, winner of the Ortage and Gasset 2012 prize for the book "The Lost Boys" which was based on interviews with young prisoners. "When I was asking them what they wanted to be, they said “El Chapo” Guzmán, the boss of the Sinaloa cartel, the one who kills most, who f---- most, the worst b------, and they were asking me if it was worth the effort of studying to end up selling tacos in the street, like their older brothers."

A Left-Wing Comeback in Mexico's Presidential Elections?

The Nation: In an unexpected turn of events, the eruption of a new youth movement has transformed the prospects for Mexico’s July 1 presidential elections. A month ago, the candidate from the old authoritarian Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI), Enrique Peña Nieto, seemed poised to win easily by a two-digit margin and bring back the ways of the past. But after weeks of student protests against the imposition of Peña Nieto by the dominant television duopoly, as well as a series of corruption scandals that implicate the PRI, leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador has come back within striking distance.

Mexico’s emerging “#YoSoy132” student movement shares much with similar mobilizations throughout the world over the past year and a half, but with a distinctive electoral twist. As in Egypt, Spain and the United States, social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have exploded with activity and facilitated the organization of youth marches and protests. Nevertheless, unlike the Arab Spring, the Mexican protests are not directed against the sitting president but against a presidential candidate. And unlike the Spanish uprisings, electoral politics are seen to be at the center instead of at the margins of the movement. Also, in contrast to the Occupy movement and Mexico’s long tradition of raucous protests, this time around the youth have been particularly careful not to disrupt traffic or take control of public spaces. Read more.