Irony anyone?
Mexico is a country of peace and social harmony… and Mexicans are fortunate to democratic institutions dedicated to ensuring the rule of law which have the obligation to ensure the rights of citizens, said the president Enrique Peña Nieto at a ceremony marking the opening of a new military education campus. (la Jornada, 13 September 2013)
… Meanwhile…
Federal Police fired teargas as protesters dislodged from the Zocalo, and commuters and others who happened to be at the corner of Eje Central and Cinco de Mayo (across from Bellas Artes) in Mexico City.
(Video: YoSoy Red; photo: La Jornada/Francisco Olvera)
R.G. you are usually spot-on with your observations but this time you have moved out of context. Mexico City has been hogtied by yesterday’s “dislodged protesters” since May 9th… They have not remotely respected the rights of the rest of the Capital’s citizens. All things considered, I think DF’s authorities showed remarkable restraint when they moved them off the Zocalo…
But I don’t think you can say, as EPN did, that Mexico is living in the Age of Aquarius. Even here in Mazatlán, teachers (from SNTE!!) have protested, and one of the oddities here is we almost never see demonstrations (HOW VERY UNMEXICAN). There is more than just an undercurrent of dissent, and not just the teachers.
BTW, I heard from a Dutch journalist who had the water hoses turned on him and his colleagues… according to him, they were targeted BECAUSE they were journalists (and wearing press IDs), so I would be skeptical of claims of “restraint” by the police
There have been protests in Merida too. I do not claim that we are living in the “Age of Aquarius”
We could go back and forth for days on the finer points of this lamentable situation but to me the bottom line is that the protest was too much for the citizens of DF to endure any longer.
The “teachers” wouldn’t leave so they left the authorities no choice. I am just thankful there was not major violence
I just wouldn’t put teachers in quotes. Yes, there were other unionists, and no doubt anarchists in the encampment, but the best I can say is that a lot of witnesses (and social media… especially cell phone cameras) probably prevented another Tlatelolco. More in a while on the teachers.