When 9/11 happened, the US had the world supporting us in our time of need. Now Mexico is in the throes of its own crisis, and the drug war-ravaged country is struggling to keep America focused on the problem.
Some of the parents of the 43 students who disappeared on Sept. 26 last year in Iguala are coming to Connecticut this week to bring attention to a cause that has its roots in corruption, deceit and mass murder. Groups of such parents have been traveling around the United States in search of support and awareness by international allies, including the United Nations.
Because for Mexico, the enemy is not an ocean away. They do not have to hijack planes to terrorize them. The enemy is the authority in power who are meant to serve and protect.
Mexican authorities say the incident began when Jose Luis Abarca, former mayor of Iguala, thought that the Ayotzinapa students were threatening to disrupt his wife’s political speech. So he called upon corrupt police officers to teach the students “a lesson.”
Police proceeded to shoot at the buses carrying the students, killing six and injuring 25. They then arrested the remaining 43 students and inexplicably gave them over to a violent drug cartel.
The members of Guerreros Unidos mistook the students for members of a rival gang, the Los Rojos cartel, so they assassinated them at a dump in Cocula, burned them and dumped the ashes in the San Juan River, according to suspect confessions.
Right after the missing persons report was filed, investigators went looking for any sign of the Ayotzinapa students. They ended up discovering 12 mass graves containing the remains of 38 individuals. But forensic experts could tie none of them to the 43 missing.
When Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam made the announcement at a press conference on Jan. 27, that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that the 43 students were murdered and their bodied burned beyond recognition or even DNA testing, many of the parents didn’t believe him. They wanted proof that their children are dead, as trust for politicians or even police has been rightfully rescinded in the light of such rampant corruption.
Although some Mexican-Americans have shown their support in places like New York, the message needs to be wider and clearer. With more than 20,000 disappearances linked to the drug war since 2005, it’s time for America to aid our neighboring country in its effort to eradicate corruption and senseless violent crimes like this one. It has prompted a growth in Mexican insurance.
“Tragically, the enforced disappearance of these student teachers is just the latest in a long line of horrors to have befallen Guerrero state, and the rest of the country,” Erika Guevara Rosas, America’s Director of Amnesty International said in a press release exposing the Mexican authorities' failure to recognize Ayotzinapa as a state crime.
“The warning signs of corruption and violence have been there for all to see for years, and those that negligently ignored them are themselves complicit in this tragedy.”