We should not let the day pass without taking a moment to honor the 43 Ayotzinapa student teachers who were kidnapped by the Mexican army September 26th last year. The Mexican government continues to try closing the case to cover for its active role in their abduction but parents & activists across Mexico brave the political climate of repression, including such disappearances, to keep the case alive through repeated protests & through continuing searches for mass graves.
They have not found the students but have found dozens of others buried, many of them likely immigrants traveling through Mexico from Central American to the US border who are subject to gang & paramilitary violence–& often disappeared.
Parents believe their children may still be alive, kept in secret prisons, & sustaining torture. The parents’ continuing campaign for the return of their children highlights the issue of disappearance which is a major human rights crime in the US, Mexico, Kashmir, China, Syria, Guatemala, Turkey, Bangladesh, & at least 40 other countries. Most will turn up in mass graves; some remain in prisons.
Our fullest solidarity with the Ayotzinapa parents & our gratitude for their
persistence in bringing this monstrous crime to world attention.
Photo is of the 43 disappeared students.