Minneapolis, MN – Around 40 people marched in Minneapolis on Jan. 26 to mark the date 16 months ago when 43 student activists were forcibly disappeared from Ayotzinapa, México. The marchers demanded that the Mexican government account for the still-missing students, echoing the demand of the families of the 43 students in México. The students were last seen when police detained them in Iguala, México in September 2014. The Mexican government still has not provided a credible explanation of what happened to them or where they are.

At the Minneapolis march, the lead banner read, “Vivos se los llevaron, vivos los queremos” (they took them alive, we want them back alive!), with images of the 43 missing students. Other banners said “Minnesota is Ayotzinapa,” and “Ayotzinapa’s disappearances are a shared responsibility of the Mexican and U.S. governments, through the U.S.-funded $2.1 billion genocidal drug war in México.”

The Minneapolis march began at Bloomington Avenue and Lake Street in front of Mercado Central. The marchers occupied both westbound lanes of traffic on Lake Street, marching to the statue of Mexican revolutionary General Emiliano Zapata in Plaza Centenario. Along the way they chanted “¡Ayotzinapa vive – la lucha sigue!” (Ayotzinapa lives – the struggle continues!).

At the Zapata statue the protesters called out the names of all 43 missing students, as well as several people who have been assassinated by the Mexican government, and responded after each name with a shout of “¡Presente!” The march then went east on Lake Street and ended at Walker Church with speakers expressing the importance of continuing the struggle to end state repression and impunity in México, which is financed and politically backed by the U.S. government.

The 43 missing students are just the tip of the iceberg of thousands of disappearances and killings in México in recent years as the Mexican government, police, military, narcotrafficking cartels and paramilitary formations are increasingly intertwined. The U.S. government continues to turn a blind eye and has continued plowing money into the Mexican government to the tune of over $2 billion just with the Merida Initiative since 2008. The U.S. continues to support the Mexican government despite its dubious human rights situation because it dutifully carries out a policy of austerity and privatization of state resources that benefits U.S. and multinational corporations.

The Jan. 26 march in Minneapolis was initiated by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), an activist organization fighting for immigrant rights and equality in Minnesota. MIRAC also struggles against the injustices that force many people to migrate, such as the government repression faced by the students in Ayotzinapa.

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Minneapolis, MN – Forty students and community members gathered in front of Coffman Student Union at the University of Minnesota, Sept. 25, to mark one year since 43 Mexican student activists from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College in Guerrero, México were forcibly disappeared at the hands of the Mexican government. A year later the students still have not been located.

The protesters at the University of Minnesota held posters with the names and pictures of the 43 disappeared Mexican students. As the emcee called out each missing student’s name, the protesters responded with a strong chant of “¡Presente!” The vigil was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC).

The Mexican government has still not carried out a credible investigation of what happened to the Ayotzinapa students. Their disappearance is not an isolated incident, just one particularly egregious example of thousands of such disappearances and brutal murders carried out with impunity in recent years in México. The rallying cry of the Ayotzinapa students’ families and the huge movement in Mexico and around the world supporting them is “Fue el estado!” (“It was the state!”), clearly putting the blame on the Mexican government’s corruption and impunity.

A statement read at the vigil called for an end to U.S. military aid to Mexico while the Mexican government flagrantly violates the rights of the Mexican people with impunity. The U.S. government is not a passive bystander to the systemic violence and corruption in Mexico, but rather provides institutional support for it. Washington has given massive funding – around $2.5 billion – to México through the Merida Initiative during the Obama administration. Washington also strongly backs right-wing Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto’s efforts to privatize key sectors of the Mexican economy in the interest of multinational corporations and against the interests of the Mexican people, refusing to hold the Mexican president accountable for crimes committed against the people by the government, police and military.

#MinneapolisMN #Mexico #PeoplesStruggles #Ayotzinapa #Missing43Students #Americas