By PAMELA AFFOLTER – Staff Writer
On Sept. 26, 2014, the kidnapping of 43 college students in Mexico sparked international outrage and brought attention to the continuing corruption in the country.
Who could even think of murdering 43 students still in the early part of their lives?
On Oct. 4, 43 Mexican college students who had been kidnapped were found dead in Iguala de la Independencia, Guerrero, Mexico. The students were studying to become teachers in the neighboring town of Ayotzinapa, and boarded buses and vans to Iguala for a protest about lack of funding for their school. They went missing on Sept. 26.
For about two months, the parents of these students still had hope in their hearts that their children would return home. Even when the remains of the students were found, according to CNN one parent, Israel Galindo, kept repeating “My son is alive. My son is alive. My son is alive.”
The mayor of Iguala, José Luís Abarca Velázquez, was called the “probable mastermind.” Abarca and his wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa, were responsible for organizing the kidnapping. They then ordered the local police to stop the students’ protest in any way possible. The police then turned the students over to the Guerreros Unidos cartel.
I thought that the Mexican government was trying to protect their citizens from cartel-related violence. Encouraging this violence is not the goal for the citizens and many citizens are angered with the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, for not taking preventative action.
Abarca also ordered that the 43 students were to be killed because Pineda didn’t want the protest to disrupt a celebration of her work. Pineda was allegedly planning to run for mayor following the end of her husband’s term. Who could be so selfish to kill 43 students just because they didn’t want to interrupt a simple party?
Over Thanksgiving break I went to Mérida, Mexico. I saw many people sitting across the street from a government building in the city square. I wondered what they were doing, and why. The protesters held a big banner with a message demanding that they wanted to know what happened to the college students from Ayotzinapa and that the investigation should be extended. A TV crew even came and interviewed the protesters. I was shocked to see that people would just pass by them.
It is not right for children to live in fear of the people who are supposed to protect them. It is not the way a community should be and more people should try and stop it.
Many Clarke Central High School students are from Mexico or from Mexican descent and, unfortunately, the crime in Mexico has gotten much worse in recent years. This major kidnapping proves that Mexico is often too dangerous to even visit. That’s why many students at CCHS can’t visit family who live in Mexico. There’s too much fear of getting kidnapped or worse.
Even the police that are meant to protect the citizens of Mexico took 43 innocent students, murdered them and burned their remains.
For me, the scariest thing is that this issue didn’t happen across the ocean or on the other side of the world from the United States. It happened right next door.
