Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,159,162 members, 7,838,975 topics. Date: Friday, 24 May 2024 at 11:50 AM

Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students - Politics - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students (956 Views)

Buhari To Return 2016 Budget To NASS Over Missing Projects / Defence Headquarters Detains Generals And Recalls Others Over Missing Cash / Mexico Missing Students Mayor Held Responsible Not President, Nigerians Learn . (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply) (Go Down)

Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by vivaciousvivi(f): 8:58am On Nov 12, 2014
“Enough, I’m tired,” Mexico’s top prosecutor said, cutting off reporters’ questions.

Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam had just revealed that authorities believe 43 missing students were kidnapped, executed and dumped in a river — and he was ready to call it a day.

His words spread like wildfire through an outraged nation.

Mounting fury over government officials’ response to — and possible role in — the students’ disappearance has convulsed the country for weeks, posing a mounting challenge to Mexico’s President amid demonstrations where at times violence has flared.

It’s one of the most serious cases in the contemporary history of Mexico and Latin America, Human Rights Watch Americas Director José Miguel Vivanco told Mexico’s El Economista newspaper. He compared it to a massacre of students during a Mexico City demonstration in 1968.

“At that time, these kinds of things happened: mass disappearances of people, where no one was held accountable,” he told the newspaper.

Yet in the 21st century, he said, Latin America “has overcome these kinds of practices.” It’s no wonder, he said, that “an act of this magnitude” unfolding “in view of all Mexicans, the international community and the media” has caught so much attention.

Now Murillo’s comments at a press conference last week have become a new rallying cry, used by fed-up protesters dishing out some of the sharpest criticism Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration has faced since he took office in December 2012.

#YaMeCansé — Spanish for “enough, I’m tired” — became a trending hashtag on Twitter and a topic of viral YouTube video posts as people in Mexico and around the world fired back.

“I am also tired that the government protects and colludes with organized crime,” a young man says at the beginning of one online video.

“Hello. I’m Juan. And I’ve had enough,” another man chimes in. “I’m tired of so much injustice.”

It’s a rapidly unfolding political crisis for Peña Nieto, threatening his efforts to revamp Mexico’s image abroad and convince citizens that drug-related violence is on the decline.

Students’ case sends shock waves

The case of the 43 missing students from a rural teachers’ college in Mexico’s Guerrero state quickly grabbed the national spotlight as word spread about their September 26 disappearance.

And as details of the troubling case emerged, outrage only grew.

Authorities say the students were abducted by police on order of a local mayor, then turned over to a gang that’s believed to have killed them and burned their bodies before throwing some remains in a river.

There’s no indication any of the students had ties with organized crime, Murillo said.

On Friday, protesters marching in Mexico City carried posters saying, “Enough, I’m tired.” Others held signs saying, “It was the state.”

Demonstrators sprayed graffiti on the walls of Mexico’s National Palace Saturday, trying to break down and set fire to a massive wooden door.

“These are the people that are screwing over the country,” they chanted.

Protesters clashed with police at Acapulco’s airport on Monday, crippling the airport for hours and forcing the cancellation of several flights.

Mexico’s President has also said he’s outraged about the students’ case, but he’s condemned the protest violence. And some have expressed skepticism that protesters are truly concerned about what happened to the students, accusing them of exploiting the situation for political reasons.

Protesters condemn what they call inaction by the government.

“There is a national emergency. This is clear,” José Alcaraz, a protest organizer, told CNN en Español Saturday. “There is a decomposition of the Mexican state.”

Pressure on the President

The students’ parents have been highly critical of Peña Nieto for his administration’s handling of the investigation.

A cell phone video from a closed-door meeting with the President, released on YouTube, shows one family member saying Peña Nieto should resign if he can’t deliver answers.

It’s not the first time the President, who represents the Institutional Revolutionary Party that once ruled Mexico for more than 70 years, has faced allegations of government corruption and accusations the government is too slow to fight crime.

Even as he deals with the investigation into the missing students and its aftermath, an investigative report from Mexican news website Aristegui Noticias over the weekend alleged that Mexico’s President and his wife have been living in a lavish $7 million mansion owned by a contractor that’s won lucrative government projects.

In response, the government said that first lady Angélica Rivera has been making payments on the house with money she’s made from her acting career. But the report about the mansion has only further fueled critics who describe the President as out-of-touch.

The protests over the missing students’ case are part of a particularly “explosive situation,” John Ackerman, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told CNN last week.

“People in Mexico are taking to the streets yesterday, today and just about every day for the last month, demanding not only clearing up this particular crime, which is very particularly egregious and important, but really a change to the system,” he said. “Mexico’s transition to democracy has not been very democratic. People are looking for a new system and a new way of thinking about government and the relationship between state and society.”

Slain Mexican student’s friends, family demand justice

Attorney general tells CNN affiliate: I would say it again

In an interview Monday, Murillo defended his comments from Friday’s press conference in the controversial case.

“When I said, ‘I am tired,’ it’s because I am tired of this: I am tired of brutal violence,” the attorney general told CNN affiliate Televisa.

It’s a phrase he said he’d say again.

“Naturally, I have no reason to lie. I am as human as anyone else, and I also get tired. I have been sleeping for four hours a night for the past 30 days, and that day I had been awake for 40,” he said.

He said he had just spoken with the missing students’ parents, and told them what he later told reporters — that officials believe the students’ remains were thrown in the river, but they don’t yet have DNA proof.

“Really, when you hear them (the parents), you shudder at the powerlessness of not being able to give them an immediate answer,” Murillo said.

There’s no doubt the case of the missing students will weigh on Mexico for years to come, Murillo said.

“This would impact any country, not a presidential term,” he said. “The impact of this kind of event lasts forever.”

The question is, what will happen next?

There’s one thing protesters say they aren’t tired of: making sure Mexico’s most powerful leaders hear them.

Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by LordMecuzy(m): 9:09am On Nov 12, 2014
A Country where d Citizen have become more determined for Good Governance irrespective of high level corruption,Drug warlords, etc.

Nigerians!!!! When we go Begin Shine our Eyes na?

Abi na Only E-wars between APC and PDP we go still dey do?

When we know deep down in our hearts APC and PDP are d same old corrupt politicians.


Do I smell Youths Revolution someday?



If I say now I am d 1st to Comment (FTC) some people would say it's childish, but we know hw d tin dey sweet like mad even if there's no financial reward.
Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by vivaciousvivi(f): 9:30am On Nov 12, 2014
I completely agree with you. (Not on the FTC part sha o wink.
I can't understand why the majority of the Nigerian populance have refused to accept that good governance is their right not only as law-abiding, vote-exercising citizens but their ultimate right as human beings.
they turn every and any critic of the present administration (no matter how minor) into a full out political war.
Anybody with half a brain and some intelligence that feels that the current government may not be doing their very best especially in terms of delivering a lasting solution to the current National security crisis is deemed an "Enemy of PDP", An APC supporter" or worse "A Northerner"! I just don't get it.
Mexico is crying out for change and with the International community closely monitoring this situation, they just might achieve it.

#GodBlessNigeriaSha
Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by Nobody: 9:35am On Nov 12, 2014
vivaciousvivi:
I completely agree with you. (Not on the FTC part sha o wink.
I can't understand why the majority of the Nigerian populance have refused to accept that good governance is their right not only as law-abiding, vote-exercising citizens but their ultimate right as human beings.
they turn every and any critic of the present administration (no matter how minor) into a full out political war.
Anybody with half a brain and some intelligence that feels that the current government may not be doing their very best especially in terms of delivering a lasting solution to the current National security crisis is deemed an "Enemy of PDP", An APC supporter" or worse "A Northerner"! I just don't get it.
Mexico is crying out for change and with the International community closely monitoring this situation, they just might achieve it.

#GodBlessNigeriaSha
.
Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by DRealGeesam(m): 9:49am On Nov 12, 2014
vivaciousvivi:
“Enough, I’m tired,” Mexico’s top prosecutor said, cutting off reporters’ questions.

Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam had just revealed that authorities believe 43 missing students were kidnapped, executed and dumped in a river — and he was ready to call it a day.

His words spread like wildfire through an outraged nation.

Mounting fury over government officials’ response to — and possible role in — the students’ disappearance has convulsed the country for weeks, posing a mounting challenge to Mexico’s President amid demonstrations where at times violence has flared.

Authorities say the students were abducted by police on order of a local mayor, then turned over to a gang that’s believed to have killed them and burned their bodies before throwing some remains in a river.

Pressure on the President

The students’ parents have been highly critical of Peña Nieto for his administration’s handling of the investigation.

A cell phone video from a closed-door meeting with the President, released on YouTube, shows one family member saying Peña Nieto should resign if he can’t deliver answers.

The question is, what will happen next?

There’s one thing protesters say they aren’t tired of: making sure Mexico’s most powerful leaders hear them.
And yet we hold our peace in Nigeria.
Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by tinkinjow: 9:58am On Nov 12, 2014
When people make posts like this they wish within their hearts that this happens in Nigeria. Sorry it won't. Mexico from south to north, east to west are one people. They are almost 100% Christians. You see? No well pronounced differences. They bear same common names.
So stop dreaming. Protest can happen anywhere in Nigeria but not everywhere. When that happens Nigeria will be gone.

Until musa relinquishes the oil block by timi's backyard to timi, there'll be no peace. Justice before peace. Let me ask, will all Nigerians protest for that to happen? Your guess is ad good as mine.

Have you not heard how a coupist in the name of fighting corruption placed his kinsmen in house arrest while jailing the non tribesmen?

1 Like

Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by vivaciousvivi(f): 10:19am On Nov 12, 2014
tinkinjow:
When people make posts like this they wish within their hearts that this happens in Nigeria. Sorry it won't. Mexico from south to north, east to west are one people. They are almost 100% Christians. You see? No well pronounced differences. They bear same common names.
So stop dreaming. Protest can happen anywhere in Nigeria but not everywhere. When that happens Nigeria will be gone.

Until musa relinquishes the oil block by timi's backyard to timi, there'll be no peace. Justice before peace. Let me ask, will all Nigerians protest for that to happen? Your guess is ad good as mine.

Have you not heard how a coupist in the name of fighting corruption placed his kinsmen in house arrest while jailing the non tribesmen?

Brother, I agree with you only to an extent. Mexico does comprise mostly of a single religious faith which is Catholicism, yet the same faithfuls are Drug lords, into racketeering, drug murders and kidnappings. Not every one in Mexico support the civil protests. But the protests (especially if it persists) will at least bring some level of acknowledgement to the atrocity that happened - be it from the government or not.
Coming back to Nigeria, (although a semi-failure) Occupy Nigeria which wasn't country-wide did make some level of impact and showed the government that civil groups do have the ability to rally together and ignite support for a collective good.
Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by san316(m): 12:57pm On Nov 12, 2014
Tikinjow,at the beginning u were thinking right but later on you started exhibiting the hopelessness that has been keeping nigeria inthe dark ages. One thing you should know about society is that none is devoid of division and conflict and none is totally homogenous. We are talking about reclaiming our country and waging a war against those politicians that have and are subjecting us to perpetual slavery. We are talking about building our future and to do that, we must not allow ourselves to be held back by the past. Buhari may still not be the so called incorruptible leader that people knew. Good luck may later stop being the clueless and carefree leader that we know. What we must do as youth is to find our way. Are things going on right or wrong and what do we need to change them? Islam and Christianity are not different in terms of their goal(which us to build a moral n just society) it is the selfish politicians and the clerics that have turned It as a means of division to achieve their individual vanities. The only way out is to break free from their manipulations and do what is humanly right STANDING UP FOR THE TRUTH, DEFENDING HUMANITY.

1 Like

Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by vivaciousvivi(f): 11:27am On Nov 29, 2014
san316:
Tikinjow,at the beginning u were thinking right but later on you started exhibiting the hopelessness that has been keeping nigeria inthe dark ages. One thing you should know about society is that none is devoid of division and conflict and none is totally homogenous. We are talking about reclaiming our country and waging a war against those politicians that have and are subjecting us to perpetual slavery. We are talking about building our future and to do that, we must not allow ourselves to be held back by the past. Buhari may still not be the so called incorruptible leader that people knew. Good luck may later stop being the clueless and carefree leader that we know. What we must do as youth is to find our way. Are things going on right or wrong and what do we need to change them? Islam and Christianity are not different in terms of their goal(which us to build a moral n just society) it is the selfish politicians and the clerics that have turned It as a means of division to achieve their individual vanities. The only way out is to break free from their manipulations and do what is humanly right STANDING UP FOR THE TRUTH, DEFENDING HUMANITY.

I agree with your 100%. Don't even know how I could have missed this post earlier.
Re: Historic Protest Convulse Mexico Over Missing Students by Nobody: 3:42pm On Nov 30, 2014
san316:


Hi! I'm recruiting young nigerians for a change movement. Could you please drop your contact here?

Thanks!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1n61hnVoHieq2e8hgyAyG-h22hwtH5uUGhkL4JQiPAAs/viewform

(1) (Reply)

Oil Slump: FG Unveils Austerity Measures / 15 Die In Enugu Road Mishap / 22 Reasons Why Buhari Can Never Rule Nigeria

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 51
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.