Ayotzinapa, Mexico: Capitalist Crime: Communist Revolution Will End Bosses’ Massacres
August 23— On September 26, 2014, in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Mexico, 43 students, mainly indigenous youth from the Raúl I. Burgos Rural Normal School, were arrested, kidnapped, and disappeared. They had demonstrated for educational improvements in the school and had taken some buses (as was customary) to go to Mexico City to participate in a march commemorating the 1968 student massacre in Tlatelolco.
The 43 students had expressed their anger against the racist governments that attack indigenous peoples and the poor. They joined over 100,000 who had “disappeared” since the government began its fight against drug trafficking.
Thousands of people internationally took to the streets to protest the attack on the 43 students. Many accused the Mexican government of being responsible for these disappearances, something common in Mexico and many other countries. ICWP participated in the demonstrations in support of the students and their families, calling for communist revolution.
In November 2014, the Attorney General of the Republic, Murillo Karam, with the approval of then-president Peña Nieto, claimed he had resolved the case with “historical truth.” He accused members of the Guerreros Unidos cartel and a few municipal police officers of being responsible for the disappearance and death of the students. The families and millions more did not believe his story.
This year, on August 19, a federal judge in Toluca, Mexico ordered the arrest of former prosecutor Murillo Karam. The judge charged the former director of the Criminal Investigations Agency (now a fugitive) Tomás Zeron and 83 others, including high-ranking military officers, administrative and judicial authorities of the State of Guerrero, with the disappearance and death of the Ayotzinapa students. A deadly state combination of armed forces, bourgeois politicians, judges, and drug cartels.
This is part of a fight among the Mexican capitalists. On one side, those who have been in power for generations (PRI-PAN) enjoying the wealth squeezed from the labor of millions of Mexican workers. On the other, capitalists who came to power recently (MORENA party and others) who want to obtain those joys of deciding how to take more advantage all the wealth produced by the working class.
The supposed “transparency” of the current government is meant to renew the illusion that future elections will bring improvements for the population and to maintain the status quo of the capitalists.
López Obrador, current president of Mexico, said of the army’s role in the massacre that “the actions of bad public servants does not mean the bad behavior of an institution.” And that, “The truth does not weaken the institution, but rather strengthens it.”
Capitalism works like this. From time to time they throw some individuals under the bus to pretend that there is “justice” and that we must trust the system.
But the reality is different. Wage exploitation continues its course. Sexism and racism continue to kill the working class.
Today as we commemorate the eighth anniversary of the 43 Ayotzinapa students, we must redouble our efforts to build a communist society without disappearances, racism, sexism, and exploitation. The international working class that will organize the communist revolution will do justice to the 43 students and millions more and will organize society based on the needs of working people. Join our fight!
Front page of this issue
