- Mexican activists called a general strike for Thursday, November 20, as well as protest marches in Mexico City and elsewhere.
- The strike and demonstrations are a continuation of nearly two months of protests against violence, corruption, and impunity in Mexico.
- The protests began as a response to the horrifying mass disappearance of 43 university students in the town of Iguala, Mexico, on September 26.
Protests in Mexico: general strike called on the Day of the Revolution
A general strike and protests coincide with Mexico’s Revolution Day
Mexican activists planned the general strike and protests to coincide with Mexico’s Revolution Day, the anniversary of the Mexican revolution. It is difficult to know what effect the strike will have on the country. However, according to reports on Twitter and the Telesur TV station, there’s a plan for the strike to shut down Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, which is the second-largest airport in Latin America.
The largest protests are expected to take place in Mexico City, the nation’s capital, but there will also be events in other cities in Mexico and the US.
The events are a continuation of weeks of protests throughout the country
Protesters march in Mexico City on November 5 to demand justice for the missing students (Brett Gundlock/Getty Images)
These events are a continuation of nearly two months of protests against violence, corruption, and impunity in Mexico.
The protests began in response to the forced disappearance of a group of student protesters in Iguala, a small city in Mexico’s Guerrero province. However, they’ve now become much broader — a way for Mexicans to protest against the violence and corruption that plague their country.
The 43 student protesters disappeared outside Iguala on September 26 and are believed to have been murdered by a drug cartel at the behest of corrupt local officials. Shortly after the attack, the body of one of the students was found with his eyes gouged out and the skin from his face removed. His companions remain missing. (Mexican officials are working to identify recently discovered human remains that they believe belong to the missing students.)
The protests have gathered steam over time, widening their focus from the Iguala disappearances to the government in general.
Protests in the state of Guerrero already forced its governor to resign over his response to the students’ disappearance. On November 7, after Mexico’s Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam cut off a press conference about the students with a muttered “ya me cansé ” - a phrase that basically means “I’m tired of this already,” the hashtag #YaMeCansé began trending on Twitter. Mexicans began tweeting and uploading videos about what they were tired of: corruption, crime, violence — as well as Murillo himself and Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto.
Correction: This piece originally said that November 20 was a public holiday in Mexico. However, the public holiday to celebrate Revolution Day was actually November 17, even though November 20 is the anniversary of the revolution. The text has been corrected.
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