Chronicle | “I want to study without dying trying,” claims Ayotzinapa

Since then, they have had a history of struggle and claims, especially since the fateful October 2, 1968, when the government militarily crushed the student movement concentrated in the Plaza de Tlatelolco, in Mexico City, with an unknown number of dead.

But in the normal school of Ayotzinapa, located in the southern state of Guerrero, everything changed after the night of September 26, 2014, when 43 of his first-year classmates disappeared after being intercepted by police and military while traveling in trucks that they had kidnapped to go to the capital for the traditional protest against the Tlatelolco massacre.

“I want to study without dying trying”

A normal day for students like Alexander – he is in his second year – starts at 7 in the morning for breakfast. Afterwards, he takes classes and does other activities until nightfall. The same the next day.

In the days prior to the anniversary of September 26, what they call the days of struggle take place, so that in the school, in addition to their usual educational activities, they also hold rallies and organize themselves for the actions they carry out in other places in Guerrero and in Mexico City.

Inside the school, on the central sports field, there are 43 empty desks that remind their classmates that they could never return to the classroom.

And on the walls of each building all the years of struggle permeate with murals with phrases like “I want to study without dying trying.”

“There has been a change in the normal since the 43 happened, since that happened the normal is in constant struggle and protest,” Alexander shares with Efe.

So much so, that direct actions do not cease. Despite the commitment established by the current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador to clarify the case and the progress made by drops, the students show their support for the families and demand the appearance of their classmates with protests that reach the flames.

Last week they burned two trucks in Chilpancingo and Iguala at the gates of the military battalions.

“There are many people who are somewhat dissatisfied with the radical activities that have been carried out, but these activities have an end, radical actions are carried out to put pressure on the government and they are carried out in the battalions because they are the ones who are involved in the disappearance” , defends the 19-year-old student.

In addition, another of his colleagues, Erick Martínez, 20, remarks, the protests seek to ensure that the case is not forgotten.

“The more time passes, the more it will be forgotten, but we are not going to let this die. The parents are still there and they haven’t known for eight years”, explains the student, who is experiencing his first days of struggle in Ayotzinapa.