Latin America 2014: Students Targeted in Mexico and Venezuela

Why are they murdering the youth of Latin America?

Mexican officials say that 43 students were murdered.

Martin Luther King Jr. once observed that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and the situation today in Latin America underscores that statement and elevates it into a theorem. Twenty years ago the world ignored the massacre of 37 Cubans by government officials for the "crime" of fleeing the country in search of a better life. The majority of the victims were young people and the world for the most part remained silent.

37 murdered by Cuban government agents in 1994 of which 22 were under 30

Now in 2014 first in Venezuela in February and now in Mexico in September students have been targeted by government officials in coordination with their civilian thugs and murdered.

Youth murdered in Venezuela since February 2014 allegedly by government agents

 This leads to an obvious question. What can be done to stop this disturbing trend across Latin America?

There are at least three things that can and must be done to take action: 1) Demonstrate solidarity with the victims. 2) Denounce the crimes and call on the government authorities to hold the killers accountable and 3) Let others know what happened and what they can do. 

Join Amnesty International's campaign for the 43

Right now the situation in Mexico demands concrete attention and actions in the hopes that a resolution can quickly be reached such as:

• Over social media there are numerous opportunities to demonstrate one's solidarity using hash tags such as: #AyotzinapaSomosTodos #JusticeforAyotzinapa #AccionGlobalporAyotzinapa #WeAreAllAyotzinapa #JusticeForAyotzinapa and #GlobalActionForAyotzinapa. 
• In Miami on November 20, 2014 at the Mexican Consulate in downtown ( 1399 SW 1st Avenue Miami, FL 33130) join with Mexican activists in a nonviolent protest denouncing the crime while demanding justice and the return of the 43 missing students to their loved ones. Other protests are planned in Santa Ana, California; Dallas, Texas and elsewhere.
• Signing an online letter from Amnesty International calling on the Mexican government to bring all responsible to justice, acknowledge that this is not an isolated case, and for the government to uphold 2012 commitment to eradicate torture and ill treatment of all detainees.
• Writing opeds, letters to the editor, spreading the word over social media on the internet in order that others may take concrete action on behalf of these 43 students.

The human rights situation around the world has been deteriorating for the past decade and remaining passive before this reality is leading to an unacceptable body count and needs to be confronted. Time to take a stand now.

We stand in solidarity with people of Mexico demanding answers about the 43 "disappeared" students.