By Karina Santiago

Tension has spread across parts of Mexico after the disappearance of 43 students in Guerrero. The missing students are now a part of the 20,000 people that have disappeared in Mexico in the past eight years, highlighting the country’s alarmingly high rates of insecurity and violence and causing a stir among desperate citizens, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

According to The New Yorker, Mexico’s Attorney General, Jesús Murillo Karam, announced on Nov. 7 at a press conference that the students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School had been executed and incinerated in the municipal dump of Cocula. The remains of the students were in such terrible conditions forensic confirmation on the identity of each victim could not be provided.

Authorities claim the students were abducted by police on order of a local mayor, according to CNN. Three detained gang members have confessed to the macabre murders, confirming Mexico is still under the unfortunate grip of cartels and political corruption. Organized crime and law enforcement exploitation, not uncommon in the area, leaves the people of Mexico without any form of protection or sense of security. This incident served as the final straw that summoned people to take action.

Exasperation and agony fueled the demonstrations as protesters marched the streets chanting “the state is dead” over and over, according to Mexican newspaper AM. Led by student associations referred to as “normalistas,” the protests have been the biggest Mexico has seen in years. Social indignation has reached a boiling point, leaving the country with charred vehicles, destroyed buildings, and vandalized airports in a collective desperate attempt to call for justice in these impoverished states.

Mexico City’s newspaper La Jornada reports that fed-up protesters have torched the mayor’s office, El Palacio Nacional, and offices of the state government in Chilpancingo, the state’s capital. In an attempt to demobilize the riots, police officers have opened fire on several protesters, injuring at least two people. The normalistas have promised to continue sending caravans of protesters throughout the states of Mexico to set ablaze 43 more government buildings: one for each victim. Mobs are to be expected in Chiapas, Morelos, Mexico City and in other states in the north. According to Human Rights Watch Americas Director José Miguel Vivanco, “this is one of the most serious cases in the contemporary history of Mexico and Latin America.”

Pressure has been put on President Peña Nieto to step down from his position. Though he claims the country has become safer under his watch, Nieto has failed to provide a reassuring explanation of how he plans to address the deep-rooted crisis of insecurity in Mexico. Meanwhile, questions regarding the ethical standards of his administration have been raised after his wife acquired a $7 million mansion in the midst of national chaos, according to CNN. Despite the turmoil, Nieto left on a business trip to China last Tuesday to focus on his economic reform agenda, leaving behind several angry mobs.

Famous native celebrities have joined forces with El Grito Más Fuerte, a Mexican organization seeks peace and democracy, to raise awareness on this critical issue. The campaign uses the hashtag “YaMeCanse” (enough, I’m tired), the slogan of the civic movement, to defy the country’s current state of corruption and its violation of human rights.

Alertness continues to spread through viral videos on social media, including “The World is Watching: Students from 43 countries in solidarity with Ayotzinapa,” in which students from Harvard, Boston University, Tufts, and Berklee College of Music sympathize with Mexico and demand an immediate regime change.

In memory of the 43 students, Suffolk University Spanish Club will be hosting a monologue Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the poetry center of the Mildred Sawyer Library. “All I can say is that there needs to be justice for the students of Ayotzinapa,” said Kristen Adams, Vice President of the Spanish Club. “The world will not stop watching until the Mexican government properly addresses this tragedy.”