Missing 43

    Live on the radio every Sunday evening is the podcast called Latino USA. It aims to offer insights into Latino communities and how political and social ideas impact their lives and the nation. Not being able to attend the live podcast on Sunday, I went and listened to one of their earlier episodes called “After Ayotzinapa: The Missing 43.” It’s air date was January 28th, 2022, while I listened on February 4th, 2022. In Septmeber of 2014, the students of Ayotzinapa University were attacked and fired upon by Mexican police. These violent attacks occured because the students were “borrowing” buses in order to take students from nearby universities to a march in Mexico City that commemorates the 1968 student massacre. Because of them stealing buses, which occurs frequently by students in Mexico because there is not enough funding by the schools to transport them, the Mexican police got involved. But as the police opened fire without hesitation on the students, it was now a day turned into a crime scene. Three students died, and 43 were taken by the police, never to be seen or heard from again. And as we get the story from Omar, a 40-something human rights lawyer, we learn that there are multiple people coming in and trying to uncover what happened to these students, something that the police is unwilling to do. Why were the students taken and never found again? This is what they are currently trying to uncover. The community believes that Mexican officials are the reason why so many people have gone missing over the years, as the uncovering of multiple mass graves are found as volunteers try to look for the students. What happened in September of 2014 was one of the most horrific crimes of Mexico’s modern history (2:19 - 2:23). Even today, parents are trying to get justice for their missing kids, they are trying to find answers to the disappearance of 43 innocent students. 

Protest in April in Mexico City

    In the episode, I really liked how we got to listen to the parents and their struggles of dealing with loss. One mother states how she feels about the government and their involvement by stating that they simply do not care about these missing students (6:23 - 6:26). Succumbed by sadness, she tells us that every night she sleeps in her sons room to ease her loneliless. I believe it will be the parents who finally uncover what happened that day, as they are the ones, early on, who hired lawyers and an independent team of forensic scientists to come in and find their missing children. There isn’t anything that I didn’t like about this episode, only the story and how the Mexican police were able to get away with what they did. What is also unfortunate is that my class theme of religion does not relate to this story, but this episode is too important to ignore, the crimes that were committed on that day should be told again and again in order to find out what happened to those students. I also think it would have been interesting to get n interview with one of the policeman who knew what happened that day. It would be interesting to see if they acted strange or nervous. 

    In the news article “Remains of one of Mexico’s missing Ayotzinapa 43 students identified,” written by Rafael Azul and Don Knowland, published on July 25, 2020, we learn that one of the students remains were uncovered and taken in for a DNA sampling test. These remains belonged to Christian Adolfo Rodriguez Telumbre, which were found at Barranca Carnicería, a ravine in the town of Cocula, Guerrero. It is also stated in this article that the attack on the students in 2014 were not the only ones, as it says, “The Iguala events had not been the first attack on Ayotzinapa students. In May 2013, Guerrero state police assaulted Ayotzinapa students collecting funds for a festival. Twenty-six were arrested and severely beaten” (Remains 1). Among these were other attacks on the students by police. It is a pattern that keeps repeating itself and is destroying the communties around them. 

The Reveal Podcast Artwork

    In this episode of Latino USA, there was only grief and pain, and the realization that Mexico’s police is corrupt. The news article helped give justice to one family, however, as Christian’s parents now know the heartbreaking truth of what happened to their child. As this topic does not intertwine with my theme, I do not regret focusing on this at all. To be a student and know that this has happened in another country is horrific. It shines light on what the people in those communities have to deal with. It shows how the police will do anything to cover up their crimes and relations with gangs. While reading the rest of the article, the attorney gives one last staement on the disappearance of the 43 students. It states, “Vidulfo Rosales, attorney for the parents, insisted that in addition to catching all those responsible for the disappearance of the 43 students, all those who collaborated in hiding the truth must be held accountable” (Remains 1). I couldn’t agree more. Here is more insight into this topic from Youtube:

Works Cited

Azul, Rafael, and Don Knowland. “Remains of One of Mexico's Missing Ayotzinapa 43 Students                     Identified.” World Socialist Web Site, 25 July 2020, www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/07/25/mexi-                j25.html.

    “Latino USA.” CapRadio, www.capradio.org/news/latino-usa/.

Photos

Ahmed, Azam. “Disappearance of 43 Mexican Students Must Be Investigated Anew.” The New York             Times, The New York Times, 5 June 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/world/americas/mexico-43-        missing-students-investigation.html.

Anayansi Diaz-Cortes, Kate Doyle. “After Ayotzinapa Chapter 1: The Missing 43.” Reveal, 4 Feb. 2022,         revealnews.org/podcast/after-ayotzinapa-chapter-1-the-missing-43/.