State police opened fire on Ayotzinapa students this past Monday
State police opened fire on the young aspirant for schoolteachers while they were rallying for the two Ayotzinapa students murdered on December 12, 2011. Two have been injured.
Ayotzinapa, Dec. 13, 2022 — The young students aspiring to become educators, Jorge Alexis Herrera and Gabriel Echeverría, were killed by state and federal police eleven years ago.
Normalista rural students and collectives marched in solidarity through Chilpancingo to commemorate their murders and demand justice, as they do every year.
As they were rallying for the two Ayotzinapa students murdered on December 12, 2011, State police opened fire on the young aspirant for schoolteachers. Two are injured.
The State Ambush
On the Chilpancingo-Tixtla highway the students were intercepted by police cars. Armed State agents descended, pointing at the bus1, and violently shouted expletives. In view of such attitude, and known history of police violence, the students asked the bus driver to accelerate.
The police began to shoot at the bus and managed to hit the engine. This forced the normalista youth to get off the bus and, when they did, the police tried to beat them, but they managed to break through and escape to their school.
The Communiqué
In solidarity, taller ahuehuete shares the translated version of the statement, «Stop the persecution against Ayotzinapa» as published by the Committee of Mothers and Fathers of the 43. The original statement is available here.
Stop the persecution against Ayotzinapa
TLACHINOLLAN
Ayotzinapa, Guerrero.
December 13, 2022.
YESTERDAY, AS EVERY YEAR, Ayotzinapa students, family members, and community organizations gathered to march together through the city of Chilpancingo to the Marqués parador2 to demand justice for Jorge Alexis Herrera Pino and Gabriel Echeverría de Jesús, two students murdered at that very place during a protest in 2011.
They were returning to the rural normal school on the Chilpancingo-Tixtla highway, at a point known as ‘the tunnel.’ They were stopped by the state police, armed officers pointing at the bus and violently shouting at the students "get off, you sons of bitches!”.
Facing such aggression, and aware of the history of unprovoked violence by the ‘law enforcement’ agents, the students pleaded the bus driver to drive on, and that no one should get off.
In doing so, the policemen opened fire. They hit the engine several times and immobilized the bus.
The students were forced to get out, and as they did, the police tried to beat them. They managed to break free and ran to their school.
The mothers and fathers of the 43 condemn this attack, which is clearly unjustifiable. The State looks the other way to the fact that there have been numerous police attacks against the aspiring teachers, and a record of deaths to regret.
Police excesses and brutality have cut short the lives of more than 50 Ayotzinapa students, while those responsible never paid for these atrocities.
Worse than that, young people continue to be harassed and attacked. Students are accused of seizing buses, and blockading Chilpancingo, among other brave protests, all opposed by the government and ruling class of Guerrero. And yet, they do not stand with or demand justice for those murdered. The state government does not ask for an investigation of the disappeared. No truth and no justice for the 43. And they refuse to acknowledge that the ongoing protests are rooted in a historical and ongoing persecution.
As parents of the 43 [forty-three male students disappeared from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College after being forcibly abducted in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico], we condemn the fact that, as usual, the State lies, manipulates information, and criminalizes students. A far cry from any kind of acknowledgement or accountability for the excessive abuse the police committed yesterday.
No matter how you look at it, the police incursion yesterday was unwarranted. Firearms were brought in, and fired against the bus where the students were present, putting their lives at risk. Further tragedy could easily have occurred from this virulent, armed aggression from the police forces.
All police officers and their chain-of-command responsible for these indefensible actions must be investigated and dealt with. To avoid doing so would be to lay the foundations for further trauma. It creates a permissible framework, extending these sequels of abuse, such as the disappearance of the 43.
Far from this administration reopening the investigations into the murders of December 12th, or of joining the demands for truth and justice for the 43, worse still, it continues to attack young people through police brutality and violence.
Considering all of the above, we demand:
That the secretary of public security be investigated for the use of firearms and excessive force in yesterday's protest, and that the corresponding responsibilities be established.
Stop the persecution against the rural normal school of Ayotzinapa.
Retribution of those responsible for the murder of the students of the rural normal school.
Truth and justice for the 43 missing students.
Because they were taken alive, we want them alive!
Committee of Mothers and Fathers of the 43
We’ve summarized and translated the report published originally by Tlachinollan. “NOTA INFORMATIVA: 12 de diciembre no se olvida: cese a la ola represiva contra la normal de Ayotzinapa”, December 2022.
A parador (Spanish pronunciation: [paɾaˈðoɾ]), in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries was an establishment where travelers could seek lodging, and usually, food and drink, similar to an inn. In Spain since 1928, a parador is a state-owned luxury hotel, usually located in a converted historic building such as a monastery or castle, or in a modern building in a nature area with a special appeal or with a panoramic view of a historic and monumental city.