Justice for the Ayotzinapa Teacher College students!
On Nov. 20, there will be nationwide protests in Mexico demanding justice for the Ayotzinapa Teacher College students. Two months earlier, on Sept. 26, students from the teachers’ college in the state of Guerrero, Mexico were attacked by police. Three students were killed and 43 others were arrested and turned over by the police to a Mexican drug gang and probably killed.
Nov. 20 marks the beginning of the Mexican revolution in 1910, which led to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed dictator Porfirio Diaz. While the revolution led to the redistribution of farmland and nationalization of the Mexican oil industry, Mexico was not able to escape economic and political control by the U.S.
U.S. domination of Mexico intensified in the 1980s, when President Miguel de la Madrid opened the door to foreign corporations, sold off state-owned businesses and cut government spending. In the 1990s, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. increased U.S. economic domination while leading the impoverishment of millions of Mexicans, many of whom left for the U.S. in search of jobs.
The 1990s also saw the growth of Mexican drug cartels, which ended up supplying some 90% of the cocaine consumed in the U.S. Flush with money from the U.S. drug market and the cooperation of large banks, including Wachovia bank in the U.S., the Mexican drug cartels became the law in much of the country, corrupting many police, government officials and businesspeople. In response, the U.S. is providing more than $1.5 billion of military aid under the Merida Initiative in support of the war on drugs that has killed as many as 100,000 Mexicans. The gangs have spread to Central American countries to the south of Mexico, leading the spike in Central American and Mexican children fleeing the violence and crossing the border into the U.S.
By showing the close relationship between the government and drug gangs, the killing and disappearance of the Ayotzinapa Teacher College students have led the people of Mexico to rise up. Their struggle against the corrupt government of Mexico backed by the U.S. is a fight not only for their liberty, but also one that benefits the working class and oppressed nationalities of the U.S.
In the ten years between 2000 and 2010, U.S. corporations cut 4 million jobs in the U.S. while adding 3 million jobs outside the country. The U.S. working class does not benefit from the policies of free trade; only the 1% and the corporations they control are winners. In the same way the people of Mexico and other Third World countries do not benefit from the low wage jobs thrown their way, these jobs only benefit a handful of capitalists like Carlos Slim, owner of Mexico’s telephone company, who is the world’s first or second wealthiest man.
The struggle of the Mexican people also has a special significance for Chicanos and Mexicanos in the U.S. After the U.S. war on Mexico in 1845 and the seizure of the northern one-third of the country, the Mexican people now in the southwest of the U.S. were forged into an oppressed Chicano Nation. This nation and Mexican immigrants across the country have ties of language, culture and family to Mexico and are both a strong source of support for the struggle in Mexico, as well are being inspired by the struggle there.
The editors of Fight Back! urge all of our readers to support the struggle of the people of Mexico against the corrupt government officials, drug gangs and U.S. corporations that are bleeding the country dry. We also call upon our readers to support the struggle against the U.S. empire here at home by fighting for an end to U.S. military aid and U.S. free trade agreements.
Justice for the Ayotzinapa Teacher College students! Down with the North American Free Trade Agreement! Refugee status for Mexicans and Central Americans fleeing violence in their home countries!