Mexico

On August 26, after the end of the demonstration for the 43 Ayotzinapa students disappeared by the state 11 months ago, the Mexico City police attacked a group of activists on their way home, injuring several of them. Amongst them were mothers of the Ayotzinapa students as well as leading members of La Izquierda Socialista (IMT) and the CLEP (Polytechnic Students Struggle Committee).

9 months ago, a group of Ayotzinapa teacher students were attacked by local police in the town of Iguala, Guerrero, and 43 were disappeared against their will. Now, new evidence has now come to light proving the involvement of the Mexican Army in the events of September 26, 2014.

Midterm elections were held in Mexico with an abstention rate of over 55%. Election day was diverse and contradictory. We saw a struggle for an open boycott in states like Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas and Michoacan. An independent candidate in Nuevo Leon won. As well, different expressions of local discontent were revealed as the advance of Morena in Mexico City and the retreat of the PRD, which has ruled the capital since 1997, has shown. The general characteristic of this election is that it reflects a growing criticism of the regime and the need for change. Contrary to official statements, what we saw was not the strengthening of democracy, but rather an increased questioning of all

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One response against the robbery by the capitalists and the cartels has been the arming of the people, above all in the rural areas. In Michoacán, the exactions by the Knights Templar cartel have become as unbearable as the overall violence, with the entrance on the scene of these narco-thug groups, many of them deserters from the state armed forces. One of the things making this situation unbearable has been the onset of the practice of entering people's homes in order to rape women, pushing popular tolerance over the edge.

Over the past couple of years Peña Nieto's government in Mexico has taken giant steps in carrying out reforms which the big bourgeoisie for a long time could only dream of. It presented itself as an unstoppable government which the workers' movement could not confront in a serious manner. But decades of such attacks and struggles have led to a build-up of pressure below the surface that constitutes a great challenge to the system and the regime that supports it. A feeling that things are not going well and that we must act to radically transform the system is taking root in Mexican society.

On 26 February the 2015, the Ninth International day of Action for Ayotzinapa took place. Thousands of people, mainly students, took to the streets of Mexico City in order to demand the return of the 43 students that went missing on 26 September 2014 in Iguala, Guerrero. Five months have passed and the versions of the events, told by the Mexican federal government have all shown to fall apart under scrutiny.

The violent abduction and disappearance of 43 students in the state of Guerrero in September has plunged Mexico into a deep social and political crisis. The case of the Ayotzinapa students has brought the masses onto the streets and convulsed the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.

It is now seven weeks since the police attacked students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college and then kidnapped 43 of the survivors and handed them over to a drug cartel. The brutal incident in the town of Iguala, Guerrero, acted as the proverbial last straw, opening up a wave of mass protests which continues to grow and spread.

Yesterday hundreds of thousands marched in Mexico city and tens of thousands more in dozens of other cities across Mexico to protest at the kidnapping of 43 student-teachers from Ayotzinapa. They were clear in pointing the finger squarely at the Mexican state. The actions were part of a widespread nationwide 48 hour student strike which continues today.

The undersigned organisations join in the call by students from the Rural Normal of Ayotzinapa and the National People's Assembly for a day of action on October 22 and we extend internationally. We appeal for the organisation of protest actions at Mexican embassies and consulates around the world that day.

It is now a month since the beginning of the movement of students at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in Mexico. This is a huge movement involving tens of thousands of students in dozens of schools, mass assemblies with thousands of participants, which has forced the national government to make important concessions in order to prevent a general explosion of the youth movement.

The horrendous incident in which police officers opened fire on students killing 6 people and injuring 17 and then kidnapped another 43 and handed them over to a drug cartel, has brought out sharply the depth of the rottenness of the Mexican capitalist state, to what degree its structures are linked with those of the drug cartels, and finally, how they stop at nothing in suppressing anyone they perceive as a threat to their interests.