Case of 43 Mexican Missing Students comes to the European Parliament
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43 students have been missing in Mexico since September 26th. A protest took place in Brussels and more than 600 people signed a letter sent to EU high representatives asking them to blame the Mexican authorities for this event.
They were students at the rural teachers college of Ayotzinapa, in the state of Guerrero. On September 26th, the police ambushed a caravan of college students; 6 of them were shot to death and 43 were taken away in police vehicles.
Last Friday October 31st, dozens of people, mostly Mexicans, convened a protest in the roundabout of Schuman in Brussels.
A letter with multiple demands
They sent a letter with over 600 signatures to Frans Timmermans, Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Administration, Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship; Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Teresa Jiménez-Becerril Barrio, Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Commission.
In the letter, they mentioned that a decision on the case was voted in plenary in Strasbourg on October 23rd, but that the document only condemned the facts and not the government of Mexico.
They also mentioned that Mexicans in Belgium and Europeans in solidarity demand the condemnation of what happened to the students from Ayotzinapa. The authors also demanded that the search for whoever was responsible to be intensified, and asked to join the petition of the 17 MEPs and 4 German MPs (sent on October 10th to Baroness Ashton, Mrs. Mogherini and Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto, the Mexican President).
They want the European authorities to reconsider the renewal of the global Mexico-EU agreement until the facts are revealed and the confidence of people in Mexico to the authorities is restored.
Lastly, they urged the European Union to act as a true strategic partner with the people of Mexico, safeguarding peace, security, loyalty and respect for human rights.
The governor of the State of Guerrero has already resigned; the pressure is increasing on Mexico, but as well as on other international institutions. Let’s see if the debate continues in the European Parliament and if this will have consequences for the relationship between Mexico and the EU.
Thanks to Danica Jorden for proofreading.