New York, November 13 (teleSUR-RHC), -- The New York Times newspaper slammed Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in an editorial Wednesday, saying that he has failed to reduce the violence in the country.
The daily newspaper focused on the disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa training college, who went missing on Sept. 26, and who, according to Mexican authorities, were burned to ashes in a dump.
The editorial also talked about the thousands of protesters that have been demonstrating in Mexico City and other parts of the country.
Teachers and students protesting the abduction and apparent murder of 43 college students in September set fire Tuesday to the headquarters of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s party in Guerrero State.
A number of demonstrations have erupted since Friday, when federal officials said they had found burned remains that may be those of the missing students. Witnesses have told the authorities that the students were abducted by the police and turned over to a drug gang that killed them.
Mexico Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam issued a statement on Friday saying that three members of the criminal gang had confessed to carrying out the massacre, which enraged families of the missing students and supporters. They said it was unacceptable that the government base its information on statements by criminals.
The case of the missing students, the recent corruption scandals, and the failure to provide security to Mexican citizens has brought great tension to Peña Nieto's administration, but the Mexican president decided to go to China and Australia anyway, claiming it was highly important for the economic future of Mexico.
The paper also said that the case of the missing students was just part of a more grave pattern in Mexico, since the government has failed to stop the disappearances in the country and the violence caused by organized crime.
“Some 22,000 people have gone missing since a wave of drug violence began in 2006, and 100,000 people have died since 2007 in violence linked to organized crime. A 2013 investigation by Human Rights Watch found that in 149 of 250 disappearance cases, there was “compelling evidence” that state agents were involved,” reported the New York Times.
“What limited progress has been made still has not repaired a criminal justice system unable to properly investigate crimes, end the corruption or stop the killings.”