Anger over missing students, corruption grows in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — A day that's supposed to celebrate the anniversary of a revolution is instead turning into one of mass protests against political corruption and outrage over violence that probably left 43 missing students dead.

"There's a feeling of being fed up that's been building for some time," said law student Esteban Santillán, 24, who marched in Mexico City last month. The case of the missing students "is the best example of the rot that there is in the country's political class."

Students, parents and supporters of the missing plan protests in Mexico City and across the country Thursday, when Mexico normally marks the anniversary of the Revolution of 1910, which resulted from discontent over a lack of democracy and farmers' desire for land and liberty.

Protest organizers promise to block access to the international airport. Revolution Day parades have been canceled in parts of Guerrero and Michoacán states for security reasons. Government buildings have been burned in Guerrero state, and stores and delivery trucks have been looted since the students went missing.

"It's the most severe crisis that the country has experienced in the last 20 years, and it touches every area," said Bernardo Barranco, an academic and political analyst. "It's a sort of catharsis in which everything is rotten: government, parties, the economy, etc.

"Patience with (Mexican President Enrique) Peña Nieto reached its bottom," he said.

A new controversy surrounding allegations that first lady Angelica Rivera's $7 million mansion was purchased through a loan from a government contractor adds to the firestorm of criticism facing Peña Nieto.

Wednesday, the president's office said there was no conflict of interest in the purchase of the property. Rivera said Tuesday she will sell the house in an attempt to clear up the controversy but added she has "nothing to hide."

Despite a slumping economy and rising crime, Peña Nieto has focused on an agenda of structural changes in areas such as energy and education since taking office in late 2012. The Mexican leader has largely remained silent on security issues and didn't address the case of the missing students until 11 days after their disappearance. He waited more than a month before meeting the victims' parents.

Protests since the students went missing Sept. 26 include an attempt to burn down the doors of the National Palace in central Mexico City, a seat of power since Aztec times.

There are protests "that appear to respond to an interest of generating instability, of generating social disorder and above all attacking the project for the nation we have been building," Peña Nieto said this week.

The comment shows the president is uncomfortable — and desperate, said Gerardo Esquivel, an economist at the Colegio de México.

"The protests have taken him by surprise, and he fails to understand that there's a deep desire for renewal that includes combating corruption, providing attention to victims and an authentic concern for the poor," he said.

The parents of the missing students — likely to arrive in Mexico City on Thursday — reject the government's assertion that charred human remains fished from a river belong to the 43 students.

"They've been trying to fool us," Felipe de la Cruz, father of a missing student, said of the government's response. "They've not been carrying out a proper search."

Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam said the crime against the students was carried out by police operating in cahoots with a drug cartel and acting on the order of a mayor and his wife — who were concerned the students would interrupt a political event.

Murillo Karam spawned further anger Nov. 7 when he ended his news conference by saying, "I've had enough" — words that became a call to protest for many Mexicans.

"I don't know of an event that has mobilized the country quite like (this)," said Jesús Mendoza, a Catholic priest and director of a program that helps victims of violence in Acapulco. "The grief that these families of the 43 students are suffering is reflected in the experience of thousands of others."