John Ackerman: Mexico Is Massacring Its Citizens and Nobody Seems to Have Noticed John Ackerman - The Star
go to original July 20, 2016

Teachers from the radical National Coordinator of Education Workers, or CNTE, are protesting education reforms introduced by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto that introduce teacher evaluations. (VICE News)

This time it is impossible to look the other way. The Mexican government is normally adept at managing public opinion so the responsibility for the violence and human rights violations ripping apart the country falls on the shoulders of local officials or organized crime groups. But this on June 19th that narrative was broken under the heavy weight of the facts.

The press originally reported a “clash between teachers and police” in the town of Nochixtlán in the southern state of Oaxaca. The authorities claimed their agents were unarmed and the protesters had fired on them first. The new U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, was carefully neutral in her first public evaluation of the incident, stating simply that she “lamented the loss of human lives.”

But during the ensuing days the awful truth has trickled out. Thanks to the reports of journalists on the scene, the Mexican government has been forced to accept that the police were in fact heavily armed. And the evidence now points to the commission of a brutal massacre by federal forces against peaceful protesters. These forces are under the command of Mexico´s President Enrique Peña Nieto and receive significant funding from the United States government under the Merida Initiative.

... Such attacks by Mexico´s highly militarized federal police on the civilian population are not rare. Excessive use of force has become commonplace in recent years, especially since the beginning of the Peña Nieto administration in December of 2012. Civilian deaths are normally presented as the result of frontal combat with narcotraffickers or “criminals.” In fact, local and international government and non-governmental organizations have unveiled the systematic use of human rights by security forces in Mexico.

But this time the violation of human rights is particularly glaring. The victims cannot be presented as “criminals” even by the most creative imagination. They were all peaceful protesters, teachers and community members, standing up for their rights. In response, the government turned a sleepy, rural town into a war zone.

Read the rest at The Star

Related: In Oaxaca, Reporters Covering Teachers' Union Protests Face Violence, Threats (CPJ Mexico)

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