Masked students block access to the Acapulco airport, where a sign reads in Spanish “Smile you were in Acapulco,” as they protest the disappearance of 43 students in the state of Guerrero
Indignation over the apparent killings of 43 college students, blamed on a drug gang working with police and a mayor, led demonstrators to take to the streets and block the airport in the resort city of Acapulco.
Protesters armed with machetes were confronted by Federal Police with shields who briefly stopped their advance before allowing them to block roads to the airport for hours before withdrawing, according to Milenio TV. Energy ministers from 15 nations were set to begin a conference in the Pacific resort city yesterday.
Protests in Mexico City escalated over the weekend, with masked demonstrators using Molotov bombs to set fire to the main doors of the National Palace that houses Mexico’s Finance Ministry and one of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s offices. After focusing on the economy since his 2012 election, Pena Nieto must make citizens feel safe in a nation where organized crime controls large areas and sometimes works with corrupt officials, analyst Alejandro Schtulmann said.
“The country cannot progress only on economic reform of energy and telecommunications if you don’t address fundamentals like the rule of law and public security,” Schtulmann, president and head of research at Mexico City-based political risk consulting firm EMPRA, said in a telephone interview. “I don’t see any development on the horizon that is suddenly going to make this disappear.”
Fifteen people were detained after the weekend attack on the National Palace and released without being charged, according to Reforma newspaper. The attack followed a march by 3,000 people from the attorney general’s office to the capital’s main square, where protesters shouted “Pena out,” according to El Universal newspaper.
Drug-related violence has left more than 70,000 dead or missing since 2006, according to Milenio newspaper. Central bank Governor Agustin Carstens said in an interview last month that drug violence is hurting growth, citing monthly Banco de Mexico analyst surveys showing public-security problems as the top obstacle to expansion.
Citizen discontent is growing after Attorney General Jesus Murillo said on Nov. 7 that the students were probably killed after being kidnapped by police in the southern city of Iguala, Guerrero, to stop them from disrupting an event featuring the mayor’s wife. DNA tests are being conducted on burned human remains found stuffed in garbage bags in a river, Murillo said.
The investigation into the missing students, who were protesting an education overhaul approved last year, has turned up at least nine mass graves and evidence of collusion between the Guerreros Unidos cartel and local officials in Iguala, a city of more than 100,000 people less than three hours’ drive from Mexico City. The disappearances on Sept. 26-27 followed shootings in Iguala that left six people dead.
The government’s response to the Iguala incident will help determine whether the protests continue, said Sergio Luna, the chief Mexico economist at Citigroup Inc.’s Banamex unit.
“The delicate issue here is the radicalization of the protests,” Luna said in a phone interview from Mexico City. “If we want to enter into the modern world we need not only economic reforms, we also need reforms in politics and justice.” Eric Martin , Bloomberg
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