SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Demonstrators march down the streets of Mexico City on Wednesday. (Photo: boerries nehe/flickr/cc)
In Sorrow and Protest, Tens of Thousands Rise Up in Name of Missing Students in Mexico
'The disappearance of the students has detonated all the accumulated pain of the thousands of disappeared people in this country,' university student says
Nov 06, 2014
Tens of thousands took part in a mass march down the streets of Mexico City on Wednesday, the latest in a series of protests linked to the disappearance of 43 student-teachers who have been missing since September.
According to the Associated Press, "the largely young crowd carried Mexican flags with black mourning bands replacing the red and green stripes, counting off the numbers from one to 43. Protesters also chanted: 'They took them away alive, and alive we want them back.'" Many parents of the missing youths, who were allegedly abducted in the city of Iguala on September 26, also joined the demonstration.
Also Wednesday, universities across Mexico began a 72-hour strike to demand justice for the students. TeleSUR reports that the student strike was decided on last week, when the Inter-university Assembly made a decision to paralyze activities at the National Polytechnic Institute, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Metropolitan Autonomous University, and the Mexico City Autonomous University.
In addition, religious and civic groups planned to begin a 43-hour hunger strike on Wednesday night.
"The disappearance of the students has detonated all the accumulated pain of the thousands of disappeared people in this country," one 19-year-old university student told the AP.
The Mexican government estimates more than 22,000 people have gone missing during the last eight years of violence between cartels fighting each other and security forces. Human rights groups say the toll could be far higher.
Earlier this week, federal authorities announced they had detained the former mayor of Iguala, who--along with his wife--had been on the run since the day after the students disappeared. Mexico's attorney general last month accused Jose Luis Abarca of ordering the police to go after the students because he feared they would disrupt a speech being given by his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, that same day. Witnesses claim the police shot at the students, who were taking buses back to their campus, resulting in three deaths, before handing the rest over to a local gang.
The New York Times reported that the fugitive couple was "detained by an elite unit of the federal police in a run-down, apparently abandoned house in the working-class district of Iztapalapa, 120 miles north of Iguala, the town where the students disappeared and which the couple presided over in collusion with the Guerreros Unidos drug gang, the authorities have said."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
Tens of thousands took part in a mass march down the streets of Mexico City on Wednesday, the latest in a series of protests linked to the disappearance of 43 student-teachers who have been missing since September.
According to the Associated Press, "the largely young crowd carried Mexican flags with black mourning bands replacing the red and green stripes, counting off the numbers from one to 43. Protesters also chanted: 'They took them away alive, and alive we want them back.'" Many parents of the missing youths, who were allegedly abducted in the city of Iguala on September 26, also joined the demonstration.
Also Wednesday, universities across Mexico began a 72-hour strike to demand justice for the students. TeleSUR reports that the student strike was decided on last week, when the Inter-university Assembly made a decision to paralyze activities at the National Polytechnic Institute, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Metropolitan Autonomous University, and the Mexico City Autonomous University.
In addition, religious and civic groups planned to begin a 43-hour hunger strike on Wednesday night.
"The disappearance of the students has detonated all the accumulated pain of the thousands of disappeared people in this country," one 19-year-old university student told the AP.
The Mexican government estimates more than 22,000 people have gone missing during the last eight years of violence between cartels fighting each other and security forces. Human rights groups say the toll could be far higher.
Earlier this week, federal authorities announced they had detained the former mayor of Iguala, who--along with his wife--had been on the run since the day after the students disappeared. Mexico's attorney general last month accused Jose Luis Abarca of ordering the police to go after the students because he feared they would disrupt a speech being given by his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, that same day. Witnesses claim the police shot at the students, who were taking buses back to their campus, resulting in three deaths, before handing the rest over to a local gang.
The New York Times reported that the fugitive couple was "detained by an elite unit of the federal police in a run-down, apparently abandoned house in the working-class district of Iztapalapa, 120 miles north of Iguala, the town where the students disappeared and which the couple presided over in collusion with the Guerreros Unidos drug gang, the authorities have said."
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
Tens of thousands took part in a mass march down the streets of Mexico City on Wednesday, the latest in a series of protests linked to the disappearance of 43 student-teachers who have been missing since September.
According to the Associated Press, "the largely young crowd carried Mexican flags with black mourning bands replacing the red and green stripes, counting off the numbers from one to 43. Protesters also chanted: 'They took them away alive, and alive we want them back.'" Many parents of the missing youths, who were allegedly abducted in the city of Iguala on September 26, also joined the demonstration.
Also Wednesday, universities across Mexico began a 72-hour strike to demand justice for the students. TeleSUR reports that the student strike was decided on last week, when the Inter-university Assembly made a decision to paralyze activities at the National Polytechnic Institute, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Metropolitan Autonomous University, and the Mexico City Autonomous University.
In addition, religious and civic groups planned to begin a 43-hour hunger strike on Wednesday night.
"The disappearance of the students has detonated all the accumulated pain of the thousands of disappeared people in this country," one 19-year-old university student told the AP.
The Mexican government estimates more than 22,000 people have gone missing during the last eight years of violence between cartels fighting each other and security forces. Human rights groups say the toll could be far higher.
Earlier this week, federal authorities announced they had detained the former mayor of Iguala, who--along with his wife--had been on the run since the day after the students disappeared. Mexico's attorney general last month accused Jose Luis Abarca of ordering the police to go after the students because he feared they would disrupt a speech being given by his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, that same day. Witnesses claim the police shot at the students, who were taking buses back to their campus, resulting in three deaths, before handing the rest over to a local gang.
The New York Times reported that the fugitive couple was "detained by an elite unit of the federal police in a run-down, apparently abandoned house in the working-class district of Iztapalapa, 120 miles north of Iguala, the town where the students disappeared and which the couple presided over in collusion with the Guerreros Unidos drug gang, the authorities have said."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.