Mexicans in New York Rally to Support 43 Kidnapped Students
Mexicans in New York held a solidarity rally in Union Square on Sunday to demand justice for the 43 students kidnapped by police in Iguala on Sept. 26, coinciding with a rally the same day in Mexico City.
Demonstration in Union Square for the 43 missing students in Mexico. #Iguala pic.twitter.com/HZ6QOnLhlt
— Kari Paul (@kari_paul) October 19, 2014
Names and faces of the kidnapped students were carried on placards, lined up in displays, and attached on the backs of protesters such as "Alumno desaparecido de Ayotzinapa, Gro. Mauricio Ortega Valerio" -- "student missing from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero Mauricio Ortega Valerio."
#NotOneMore! Protest for the kidnapping of 43 students in #Mexico happening right now at #UnionSquare #MX #Escue... pic.twitter.com/fNQmK9ZLOs
— Luis Nieto Dickens (@nietodickens) October 26, 2014
Mexicans have reacted with outrage to the disappearance of the students from Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College in Guerrero state on Sept. 26, and a government response that has failed to explain what happened. What is known is that students were traveling to Iguala to raise money in three buses when police fired on the students, killing six people, injuring 25 and kidnapping 43 mostly first-year students.
Here at #UnionSquare #NYC still remembering the #Ayotzinapa students. #Mexico #Guerrero #NewYorkCity pic.twitter.com/ss0bQXXoBB
— Ash J (@AshAgony) November 9, 2014
Investigators say Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda Villa, ordered police to confront the students, reportedly fearing the students would disrupt an event being led by the wife. Offices then allegedly turned over 43 arrested students to a local drug gang.
We're reading off the names of the #Ayotzinapa students in #NYC! #Guerrero #Mexico #ACAB #UnionSquare pic.twitter.com/WGBd6FZlgL
— Ash J (@AshAgony) November 9, 2014
On Friday, the Attorney General, Jesus Murillo Karam announced two suspects had led authorities to trash bags believed to contain the incinerated remains of the slain students, who haven't been seen since being kidnapped by police. Murillo said members of the gang confessed to killing the students before burning their bodies and tossing the ashes and bone fragments into a river. At least 74 people have been arrested in relation to the disappearance and possible killing.
After an hour of speaking, the Attorney General signaled the abrupt end to questions at press conference, turning away from reporters says "Ya me canse" -- a phrase translated from Spanish to mean "Enough, I'm tired."
The phrase became a hashtag link on Twitter, #YaMeCanse, and the sentiment has been ridiculed and made the subject of political cartoons, reported the Associated Press.
On Saturday, protesters burned several cars and trucks outside the governor's office in Chilpancingo, the Guerrero capital.
The "Normales", or normal schools, offer teaching training to poor and indigenous people for their remote communities. The schools were founded in 1921 and have been the birthplaces of many social movements. Through its ranks have passed legendary guerrillas like Lucio Cabanas, who in 1967 founded the Party of the Poor, and Genaro Vazquez, both graduates of the school. Of the original 46 rural schools only 15 are left.
"For years, there has been a campaign against the rural teachers colleges and they have been scorned for what they do. In the view of the government, they are very expensive, and the students have to constantly fight to keep their schools running. And no one says anything because they're poor kids," Etelvina Sandoval told the Inter Press Service.
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