The disappearance of 57 students on Friday last week by municipal police in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, is in my view easily one of the most scandalous events that has taken place in Mexico over the past seven years. It's so awful it's hard to think about.

What started out as a student protest on Friday turned ugly when cops opened fire multiple times, killing six people and wounding 25. They then detained 57, and when I say "detained" I mean kidnapped. Anarchists denounce police kidnappings all the time at protests, well, this case is a worst case scenario as far as these things go. Fourteen of the students have since been returned to safety. That means there are still 43 missing students, all young folks from a rural area in Guerrero state who were in a teacher training program. They are no longer officially in police custody, if they're still alive they are likely to be in the hands of drug cartels (which are inseparable from the police).

According to the Wall Street Journal:

"Every hour that goes by and we don't find them, the possibilities that we will find them alive get smaller," said Vidulfo Rosales, a lawyer for a local human rights group. Mr. Rosales said hopes had faded that the missing students have been hiding at the homes of friends following the protests.  "The most common hypothesis is that they are in the power of organized crime groups that work with Iguala's municipal police, which is very penetrated by organized crime," he said.

Twenty two cops have since been arrested in connection with killings. But that's a weak, media friendly band-aid solution, and does nothing to bring back the 43 missing students.

The President of Mexico cancelled a visit to the state that had been planned for the weekend, blaming weather. Yeah, right. In terms of the situation with the students, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported "Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said the state government had to take responsibility for the violence in the region as it was not the job of the federal authorities.

Mr. President, 43 disappeared students, grabbed by cops and handed off to drug gangs/cartels/paramilitary groups is everybody's business.

This is a national fucking emergency, and a tragic disgrace. It is taking place 46 years after Mexican pigs massacred at least 36 students at Tlatelolco in the lead up to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

There's thousands of students throughout the country protesting in the streets today, acts which in this context we must understand as being incredibly brazen and brave. All power to the people in the streets.

#BringBackLosNormalistas #El2deoctubrenoseolvida #FTP