International
Dario Lopez-Mills / AP
MEXICO CITY — Several thousand protesters poured into the country’s capital late Thursday afternoon, on the 104th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, to call for the return of 43 Ayotzinapa teachers college students who went missing Sept. 26 and for the government to address Mexico’s epidemic of violence.
Students, indigenous tribe members, businessmen, housewives and many others expressed their anger at a government they view as deeply corrupt, with close ties to criminal organizations.
“I’m here because we are in a crisis situation here in Mexico,” said Emma Obrador, a member of the Association of Women Embracing Mexico, a nongovernmental organization that works toward gender equality. “It is not just these 43 students who have disappeared. There have been thousands of people who have disappeared in the last decade. This is the issue we are pushing to the forefront today with this demonstration.”
Three sets of marchers made their way throughout the city in the late afternoon, from three starting points. Native drums pounded, and waves of incense wafted among the marchers, many of them clad in the black they had been urged to wear, to symbolize mourning not only for the missing Guerrero students but also for the more than 80,000 Mexicans who have been killed or disappeared in the last decade.
Citizens of all ages spoke of the heavy weight of violence that has plagued the country since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderón launched a more aggressive militarization of the effort to tackle organized crime, kicking off a sharp increase in violence.
“Our country seems to be getting more dangerous every day,” said Javier García, a 20-year-old student. “I’m scared, quite frankly. They are starting to grab people off the street, and more and more people keep disappearing. This kind of violence seems to be increasing, and it is increasing everywhere.”
Many of the protesters said they were fed up with the current administration, especially with President Enrique Peña Nieto, who was elected at the end of 2012 and has spent much of his term pushing through a series of reforms, including energy reform that will open the country to private investment for the first time in seven decades.
“This government has made many reforms — a fiscal reform, an energy reform, a labor reform — and what benefit does this have for those in the pueblos?” asked Erika Vanesa del Castillo, 36, one of a band of marchers carrying a placard calling for Peña Nieto’s resignation.
Others were even blunter, saying the narcotrafficking ties of the Iguala mayor who is said to have ordered the attack on the Ayotzinapa students is only the latest evidence that the government is heavily infiltrated by organized crime.
“This narcogovernment — for that is what it is — approves of the narcotrafficking,” said 64-year-old Alicia Mercado. “This is not a democracy. Being a student here appears to be a much worse crime than being a narcotrafficker.”
Marchers repeatedly counted off to 43, then shouted “Justice!” and called for an end to government corruption and immunity from prosecution.
“What I’m looking for is an end to the way Mexico has traditionally done business since the 1970s, with its dirty war,” said Daniel Albarran, 37. “It has been a constant in our country, even as politicians come and go. We still end up with these kinds of situations.”
Many acknowledged the attention Mexico has abroad, both for its heralded energy reform and for its piles of bodies in pits. They believe that the demonstrations, which have taken place across Mexico in recent weeks, will continue to grow until the government, which so far has been largely silent, is forced to act.
“The difference between the protests in 1968 and now is that now the eyes of the world are on Mexico,” said Coyote Alberto Ruz. “This is a demonstration for the government and for whoever needs to hear it — that each time we march, we are going to be more and more.”
Claudia Morelos, who went to the demonstration with her 15-year-old daughter, Toyoko Ida Morelos, choked up in tears while describing her reasons for participating in the march.
“I am here because all of this is so incredibly painful,” Morelos said, her arm around her daughter as she spoke. “We don’t want any more of this. We are depressed by all these kidnappings, the grinding poverty, the rapes. We just can’t keep on like this.”
Thousands of rural Mexicans from the southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero arrived for the march, calling for better government and respect for indigenous rights in their areas, many of which suffer the country’s highest poverty and illiteracy rates.
“We are looking for an end to the repression here in Mexico — the kidnappings, the disappearances, all this violence,” said Olga López, 36, a member of the Triqui tribe in Oaxaca. She said she traveled to Mexico City with several fellow tribe members to show solidarity with the Ayotzinapa students, most of whom came from indigenous communities.
The three marches converged late in the evening at Mexico City’s central square, Zócalo, where the atmosphere intensified. Protesters throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the National Palace were dispersed by the police using tear gas. The majority of the marchers, however, expressed peaceful intentions, emphasizing that their goal is a better Mexico for the next generation.
“I have a son who is also a university student, and I don’t want what happened to those 43 students to happen to him,” said Marco Antonio Carpio, a 46-year-old Mexico City resident. “We have to take care of the next generation. We are only looking for justice, nothing more.”
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