Enrique Acevedo on What the Ayotzinapa Tragedy Says About Mexico Enrique Acevedo - Fusion
go to original November 16, 2014

Mexico is a nation of stark contrasts. A country where obesity and acute malnutrition coexist;  the home of the world’s richest man and 53 million people living under the poverty line, almost half of the population.

Nonetheless, there is a historic gap that explains Mexico better than any other disparity. This is the fracture created by the absence of the rule of law, one that divides those who infringe norms with ease and the victims that suffer from rampant impunity.

In some countries, justice in the court system can be bought, in Mexico it has become a luxury that only a few can afford. Those that don’t have the money or the influence are left defenseless, at the mercy of savage criminals and corrupt government officials, who occasionally act like one and the same, as we’ve seen in Iguala where six students were killed and 43 others went missing.

Our worst nightmares materialized this month when Mexico’s Attorney General, Jesus Murillo Karam, detailed the gruesome acts behind the kidnapping and murder of the Ayotzinapa students. We all knew the chances of finding them alive after more than 40 days were slim at best. But no one imagined the brutal way in which their lives allegedly ended – asphyxiation, their bodies burned in a pile, their bones crushed.

The remains have been tampered with to the point where they had to be sent to the Innsbruck Medical University in Austria for DNA identification. Until their identities are confirmed, the only evidence presented by authorities is the testimony of three men, who say they took part in the mass murder.

The case has potentially unveiled Mexico as a narco state, where ruthless cartels and gang mercenaries not only control, but literally govern parts of the country.

Read the rest at Fusion

Photo: Juan Espinoza

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