No Mercy in Mexico
Weekend Edition November 14-16, 2014
The Missing Mexican Opinion
No Mercy in Mexico
by MATEO PIMENTEL
Within twenty-four hours of protestors setting fire to the National Palace door in Mexico City, Mexico, I phoned a close friend. I cannot say much about him; however, I can say that he is from Mexico City, lives there, and that he works with elected officials who respond directly to the head of state. I asked him what the back-story was regarding recent polemics surrounding the protests and missing/murdered 43 students. He told me that nobody knows the official story, but that the popular perception of the tragedy undergirds the current commotion.
Everything allegedly started in Iguala, a town in the State of Guerrero. The mayors wife is fairly outspoken politically, and she planned to give a speech. In the past, however, she had trouble with confrontations and protestorsespecially students of normal schools. Normal schools are for students who want to become, or are studying to become, teachers. My friend said:
There are all these things going on in terms of education. They are cutting the budgets of different schools; they are diminishing the amounts of credits or courses that students have to take. For example, you can graduate, but you will no longer be an engineer, you would be a technical engineer because of how the curriculum works out now. However, in Mexico, people are very big into their titles. Everywhere you go, people call you licenciado, or maestro, or doctor. They are really into their titles.
The roots of the current unrest go deeper than titles; not only does a change in professional title demote students and teachers socially, but it also places them at a lower market value for the workforce. This changes a lot in terms of salary, my friend said, which, in Mexico, is nothing. So, you go from nothing, to even more nothing. So, students and teacher are fed-up, and protesting.
My friend could not stress enough that the now missing/murdered (43 students) wouldnt have done anything. They wouldnt engage in any violence; they would just be there making noise. But [the mayors wife] told the policewhich she controlsto take care of them. For that matter, student protests take aim at issues of education in the hopes of it shaping their future work, not to diminish the state. In Mexico, however, my friend explained that to take care of someone does not mean to put up roadblocks, or to arrest people unduly. He said, What it means is, kidnap them, dismember them, and burn them alive. So, thats essentially what happened. She told the police, Hey, dont let them come near me. So what they took that as, was, lets kill them off. The Mayor of Igualas wife apparently did not want any rabble-rousing during her speech.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/14/no-mercy-in-mexico/
PuraVidaDreamin
(4,094 posts)Won't hear about this on corporate news channels! Might give
Us ideas.
imthevicar
(811 posts)PuraVidaDreamin
(4,094 posts)May their dreams be nightmares! He-he!
cbayer
(146,218 posts)and the cover up of the violence in Mexico.
I think the problems go all the way to the top.
I predict that he will not be in office much longer.