The
recent kidnapping and likely murder of 43 Mexican students from a teachers
college in Ayotzinapa Guerrero has inflamed the anger of people both within
Mexico and abroad. In this incident, local politicians ordered the police to
attack and shoot protesting students and then handed 43 of these young people
over to an allied criminal gang who kidnapped them. The missing students have
yet to be found and are presumed to be dead while their remains and any
evidence of this horrendous crime have most likely been destroyed and covered
up. Other such deadly attacks upon small farmers and their organizations by
politicians allied with wealthy landowners and criminals have also been
commonplace in the state of Guerrero which is governed by the supposedly
‘leftist’ PRD party. This violent and grisly act that was committed by these
oligarchs against
these young people was intended to intimidate and silence the voices of
protesting students and this incident is symbolic of what is left of a
shattered Mexican democracy. The growing financial and political complicity
between government officials and criminal gangs and their blatant use of terror
and violence is aimed at stifling the rights of the Mexican People to enact
social change through democratic means. Other victims of this violent trend
within Mexico have included numerous journalists, politicians seeking reform,
trade unionists and human rights advocates. This deadly attack and kidnapping
of these students is a clear example to the world of the blatant lack of
democracy and rule of law that now exists within Mexico. Such growing
lawlessness on the part of government officials and gang cartel members combined
with a consistent growth in financial inequality and unemployment throughout
the country has also exerted a downward push on people’s standard of living and
on the economic well-being of their families.
Adding fuel to this deteriorating
national situation is the financial pressure being applied by foreign banks and
corporations upon the Mexican government to privatize the country’s resources
and dwindling social services which will result in higher profits for Wall
Street and Mexico’s oligarchs while reducing social programs aimed at improving
people’s lives. The last 25 years of governance under the PAN and PRI parties
have led to widespread political corruption, a drastic rise in wealth and class
inequality and the development of a violent narco state. These factors have
contributed to an erosion of democratic institutions and the norms of justice
within Mexican society and created a situation where power in society now grows
out of the barrel of a gun.
The
burdens of NAFTA and the ‘War on Drugs’ stunt Mexican society
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