By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Mexico has seen a recent surge in violence that the Mexican government has been unable to quell. On 26 September, several students were abducted by corrupt police officers that were in concert with a drug gang located in Iguala, the biggest city in Guerrero. The Mexican government is still investigating the occurrence. However, Attorney General Jesus Murillo has gone on record to state that the evidence strongly suggests that police officers handed the students over to the cartel members who later incinerated them. The remains of only one of the missing 43 students has been identified.

The tragic occurrence, which took the lived of so many students, has sparked major protests throughout Mexico. In protest, citizens have began to seize city hall and occupy various other government buildings. Mexican President, Enrique Pena Nieto, has faced harsh criticisms from the public in failing to solve the case and ultimately end the violence in the country, the majority of which stems from drug gangs.

A more recent occurrence of violence had Mexican police finding 10 decapitated corpses and 11 heads in a southwestern state. The headless corpses were found in graves about 31 miles east of the Guerrero state capital Chilpancingo. The bodies showed signs of torture as their hands had been tied, according to local security officials. On the same day as the violence, President Pena Nieto was meeting with the President of the United States, Barack Obama, in Washington.

During his meeting with Pena Nieto at the White House, President Barack Obama said that he was committed to helping Mexico eradicate the drug cartels that are plaguing the country with violence. However, Obama made sure to inform President Pena Nieto that it was ultimately the responsibility of the Mexican government to resolve the problems created by the cartel. President Obama did however state that the United States was committed to being a “friend and supporter of Mexico in its efforts to eliminate the scourge of violence and the drug cartels that are responsible for so much tragedy inside of Mexico.”

 

 

For more information, please see the following:

REUTERS – Ten Bodies And 11 Heads Found In Violent Mexican State – 7 Jan. 2015.

STAR TRIBUNE – Mexico: 10 Bodies, 11 heads Found In Clandestein Graves In Violence- Plagued Guerrero State – 7 Jan. 2015.

THE GUARDIAN – 10 Decapitated Bodies Found In Troubled Mexican State Of Gurrero – 7 Jan. 2015.

WASHINGTON POST – Who’s In Charge In Michoacan? Mexican Government And Militias Struggle For Control – 7 Jan. 2015.