Mexico City, June 29 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Civil society organizations and the parents of the 43 Ayotzinapa students who were abducted in Iguala, Guerrero, on the night of September 26, 2014, concluded a vigil called “43 for 43” late Sunday in Mexico City.
The 43-hour event was held over the weekend at the Palace of Fine Arts, which is the most important cultural center in the country, where hundreds of people also reached the place to express their solidarity with those who still don't know the whereabouts of their loved ones.
According to organizers, the event was planned to urge all Mexicans not forget what happened in Ayotzinapa and raise awareness about the situation of violence in the country. “The Mexican Society has to resist and fight against the bad government that suggest us to forget, overcome and let things pass,” reads an official document written by organizers.
The Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported that the parents of the students gave a series of speeches before hundreds of people, demanding justice and the safe return of the disappeared Ayotzinapa students. They also demanded that the government give answers regarding their whereabouts, since they have spent nine months of suffering and despair.
Two weeks ago the Ministry of Defense revealed that there were at least two Mexican army soldiers among the 43 students who were also disappeared. This has highlighted the persistent confusion and doubts still surrounding the case and led to speculation by the families that the omission was a deliberate effort to sow division.
The government claims that the disappeared students were killed and their bodies burned. However, the relatives believe the government is engaging in a cover-up. The remains of only one missing student, Alexander Mora Venancio, has been found so far. This case has sparked widespread social unrest across the country that has also been exacerbated by government corruption scandals, a lackluster economy and human rights concerns that have marred President Enrique Peña Nieto's three-year-old government.
