Mexico on Wednesday ordered the arrests of the mayor of the city of Iguala, his wife and an aide, saying that they organized an attack last month that left six students dead and 43 missing. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people marched through Mexico City to protest the students’s disappearance.
“We shall overcome,” protesters shouted with fists in the air.
Students, teachers, farmers and activists joined relatives of the missing students in the peaceful march, estimated to have drawn 45,000 participants.
Photo: AFP
Protesters carried large black-and-white photos of the missing and called out their names, followed by the world “present.”
Protesters banged drums, strummed guitars and blew whistles.
“I am indignant over what happened. They could have been my students, my brothers, my children,” National Autonomous University of Mexico psychology professor Jorge de la Pena said.
Mexican authorities have searched in vain for any trace of the teachers’ college students who disappeared on Sept. 26, in a case that has sparked national and international outrage, including mass demonstrations that saw the Iguala City Hall torched on Wednesday.
“Arrest warrants have been issued for Iguala Mayor [Jose Luis Abarca],” as well as his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, and Iguala’s public safety director, “as the individuals who likely organized the events that took place in Iguala,” Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam told reporters.
Abarca “gave police the order to confront” students, who were known for frequent protests, so that they would not derail a public event by his wife, the head of a local state children’s protection charity.
Authorities say corrupt officials and police worked with the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel in the attack, which could prove to be one of the worst slaughters that Mexico has witnessed since the drug war intensified in 2006.
The mayor’s wife is a sister of at least three known drug traffickers, and the couple has ties to Guerreros Unidos, authorities said.
Searchers are still combing the area for the missing students by land and air, almost a month later.
Authorities say Iguala’s police force shot at buses carrying the students and handed them over to officers in the neighboring town of Cocula, who then delivered them to the Guerreros Unidos drug gang.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was