A nascent student group calling itself Yo Soy 132 (or I Am 132) held
its second national march June 10, in protest of Mexican presidential
candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto. Estimates had the crowd numbers in Mexico City
alone at over 90,000–almost double the estimated 46,000 that were present for
the first march against the candidate in mid-May.
Much of the recent organizing in the country has been explicitly
against the possible victory of Peña Nieto, a member of the Institutional
Revolutionary Party, or PRI by its Spanish initials, that is positioned to
potentially return to power after 12 years out of the presidency and before
that over 70 years in power. The PRI is considered by many to have been an
authoritarian regime, and some Mexicans fear the possibility that with the
return of the PRI, there could also be a rollback of freedoms in this still
fledgling democracy.
Recent momentum and interest in what many had considered to be a
lackluster presidential campaign has been credited to the development of this
new student movement. At a campus visit by Peña Nieto to the Universidad
Iberoamericana (known as the Ibero) on May 11, students at this private
university surprised many by surrounding the conference and shouting
accusations, questions and demands that the candidate leave the campus. Amidst
this unexpected protest, Peña Nieto left abruptly, with students in pursuit.
Videos of the scene were quickly uploaded to various social media networks, and
images of the candidate fleeing the campus immediately went viral.
Read the entire piece. http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/7160
The Americas Program
No comments:
Post a Comment