dylan and vlady's newsletter

Clashes Erupt Over Missing Mexican Students

Nov. 21, 2014 MEXICO CITY — A day of mostly peaceful antigovernment mass marches on Thursday to protest the disappearance, and presumed murders, of 43 college students ended with clashes with the police who tried to prevent some demonstrators from damaging the National Palace in the city center. Thousands of people led by relatives of the missing students marched through the city and converged at night at the historic square known as the Zócalo, many of them pleading with masked young people to refrain from violence or stay out of the march. Demonstrators, mostly students and members of teachers’ unions joined by celebrities, artists and others, focused their ire on President Enrique Peña Nieto, with echoing shouts of “Peña Nieto out!” and an effigy of the president that was burned.

It was one of the largest of the occasionally violent demonstrations that have taken shape since the students, from a left-leaning college with a history of provocative protest, disappeared on Sept. 26 in the town of Iguala, 120 miles south of Mexico City, shocking a country increasingly frustrated with crime and corruption.

Mexican Leader Offers Asset Disclosure

Nov. 19, 2014

MEXICO CITY — President Enrique Peña Nieto said Wednesday that he would disclose details of his assets, a day after his wife promised to give up an opulent new home in one of this city’s most expensive neighborhoods.

Mr. Peña Nieto’s announcement appeared to be an attempt to quiet the scandal that has been simmering over the house since its existence was first revealed 10 days ago. The flap has threatened to undermine his presidency while he is trying to contain the political fallout from the disappearance of 43 students at a rural college in September.

Huge demonstrations in honor of the students were scheduled here and in a number of state capitals on Thursday, the 104th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Instead of observing the traditional parade from the National Palace, Mr. Peña Nieto plans to watch it at a military parade ground while students, unions and other groups rally at different points around the city to protest.