Brazil market slides after Rousseff re-elected

Yahoo – AFP, Chris Wright, 27 Oct 2014

Re-elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (L) greets former Brazilian president

 Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva following her win, as her Vice President Michel Temer (R)

looks on, in Brasilia on October 26, 2014 (AFP Photo/Evaristo Sa)

Re-elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (L) greets former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva following her win, as her Vice President Michel Temer (R) looks on, in Brasilia on October 26, 2014

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazilian markets delivered a harsh verdict Monday after left-wing President Dilma Rousseff narrowly won re-election, despite her pledge to unite a divided nation and reboot a stagnant economy.

The Sao Paulo stock market plunged six percent in opening trade and the currency, the real, fell four percent against the dollar after Rousseff -- the first woman to lead the world's seventh-largest economy -- defeated business world favorite Aecio Neves in a run-off.

Supporters of re-elected President Dilma

 Rousseff celebrate in Brasilia on Oct. 26,

2014 (AFP Photo/Evaristo Sa)

Stocks had recovered slightly by mid-day but were still down 4.7 percent, with the real off more than two percent.

State-owned oil giant Petrobras, which was thrust into the campaign spotlight by a multi-billion-dollar kickback scandal implicating politicians linked to Rousseff, was down 15 percent.

After a vitriolic campaign that largely split the country between the poor north and the wealthier south, Rousseff won 51.6 percent of the vote to 48.4 percent for Neves, the closest margin of victory since 1945.

The 66-year-old incumbent crucially picked up enough middle-class votes in the industrialized southeast to cement a fourth straight win for her Workers' Party (PT).

She will start her second four-year term on January 1 facing a laundry list of challenges: governing a polarized country, winning back the confidence of the private sector, reviving an economy in recession and tackling corruption.

"Rousseff will have her work cut out, politically and on the economy," said David Fleischer, a political analyst at the University of Brasilia.

"She must reach out to industry and the private sector. Investments are way down -- she must restore confidence."

Tackling the economy will be all the more difficult given a market implacably opposed to her.

"There is polarization -- and that is a negative. But there is pressure within her party for Rousseff to change course," said Lia Valls, an economist with the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Rousseff has promised to replace Finance Minister Guido Mantega, and markets are watching closely to see who she names.

Reach out to industry

Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla jailed and tortured for fighting Brazil's 1964-1985 dictatorship, called for unity in her victory speech and promised to listen to voters' demands for change after a record 26.1 percent of voters abstained.

Supporters of Brazilian President and presidential candidate for the Workers Party, 

Dilma Rousseff, celebrate in Brasilia on October 26, 2014 (AFP Photo/Evaristo Sa)

Voting is compulsory in Brazil -- but a no-show just brings a small fine.

"This president is open to dialogue. This is the top priority of my second term," she told supporters in the capital Brasilia alongside two-term predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who media predict will have a key role in reshaping her new team.

After four years of low growth culminating in recession this year, Rousseff admitted she must do better.

"I want to be a much better president than I have been to date," she said, issuing "a call for peace and unity" after a bitter campaign of low blows and mutual recriminations.

Lula, who remains broadly popular, recognized the country's deep division Monday in remarks published in local newspapers.

"Coexisting will now be increasingly difficult," he said.

"Rather than complain, we have to think about constructing a functioning government in the country."

Call for unity

Neves, a 54-year-old senator and former governor, congratulated Rousseff but told her "the priority should be to unite Brazil."

Rousseff won after persuading enough voters from a growing middle class to pin their hopes on further social gains that have lifted tens of millions out of poverty.

Under the PT, wages have increased and unemployment has fallen to a record-low 4.9 percent.

People queue at a polling station in Mare,

 a complex of favelas in Rio de Janeiro, 

Brazil, on October 26, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Vanderlei Almeida)

But economic growth -- which hit 7.5 percent in 2010, the year Rousseff first won election -- has since stagnated.

Besides an economic revival, voters are demanding an overhaul of shoddy public services and an end to corruption.

Rousseff roundly denied eve-of-poll allegations that she knew of the massive embezzlement scheme implicating dozens of politicians -- mainly her allies -- at Petrobras.

Rousseff fought a hard-hitting campaign throughout a dramatic race in which the lead changed hands several times, fending off both Neves and, in the October 5 first-round vote, popular environmentalist Marina Silva.

US President Barack Obama sent his congratulations, calling Brazil an "important partner."

His relationship with Rousseff has been strained since revelations emerged that the US spied on her communications, part of the National Security Agency (NSA) leaks by former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.

Numerous Latin American leftist leaders also sent congratulations, including Presidents Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia.

Mexican prosecutor issues warrant for Iguala mayor and wife

Mexican officials have ordered the arrest of a town mayor, his wife and a local police chief. The prosecutor claims the three were the masterminds behind an attack that left six students dead - with dozens more missing.

Deutsche Welle, 23 Oct 2014

Mexico's Attorney General Jesus Murillo on Wednesday said information from a gang leader had led to the arrest warrants being issued over the students' deaths and disappearances.

"We have issued warrants for the arrest of Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca, his wife Mrs Pineda Villa and police chief Felipe Flores Velazquez," Murillo told a press conference. All three of those named were currently fugitives.

The attorney general claimed the three were: "the individuals who likely organized the events that took place in Iguala." Authorities claim police abducted the students and handed them over to a gang.

The case sparked national uproar, with protests in Mexico City as well as Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero state where the disappearances took place.

The investigation of a mass grave site
near Iguala yielded no link with the students

In addition to the six students that were found dead, another 43 - from the same rural teaching college, known for radical activities - appear to have been abducted near Iguala on September 26.

Authorities sent federal police into Iguala and have arrested more than 50 people in connection with the incident, including the leader of the Guerreros Unidos gang, Sidronio Casarrubias.

Murillo said Casarrubias had told prosecutors that the mayor and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, had ordered two local police forces to stop the students.

Family drug links

Abarca was said to have given "police the order to confront" students, who were known for frequent protests.

Mexican media, citing intelligence sources, say that Abarca's wife - the sister of at least three known drug traffickers - had been afraid the students would interrupt a speech she was due to give that night.

Authorities say that corrupt police officers were among those who shot at buses the students had commandeered. It is believed that Iguala police handed the surviving students over to police in the neighboring town of Cocula, who in turn delivered them to the Guerreros Unidos gang.

Searchers are still combing the region around Iguala by land and air, but there has so far been no trace of the missing students.

On Wednesday, a group of frustrated protesters set fire to the Iguala city hall building over the unsolved disappearances. Thousands had marched in a demonstration staged in the town earlier, the latest in a series of protests.

rc/av (AP, AFP, Reuter, dpa)

Mexico catches mayor blamed for students' disappearance

Related Article:

Mexico catches mayor blamed for students' disappearance

US arrests Mexican drug-cartel leader

Yahoo – AFP, 22 Oct 2014

US authorities have arrested the

 most-wanted leader of a notorious Mexican

 drug-trafficking gang, accusing him of 

being responsible for much of the violence 

that has wracked Mexico in recent 

years (AFP Photo/Eric Kayne)

Washington (AFP) - US authorities have arrested the most-wanted leader of a notorious Mexican drug-trafficking gang, accusing him of being responsible for much of the violence that has wracked Mexico in recent years.

Investigators swooped on Juan Francisco Saenz-Tamez while he was shopping in Edinburg, Texas on October 9 and he made an initial court appearance on drug-trafficking charges on Tuesday.

"Saenz-Tamez became the head of the Gulf Cartel following the 2013 arrest of former leader Mario Ramirez-Trevino," Michele Leonhart, of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement.

"He oversaw much of the violence and bloodshed that has plagued Mexico and DEA is pleased he will face justice in the United States."

A federal jury last year indicted Saenz-Tamez, 23, and charged him with conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy with intent to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to money launder.

He faces up to life in prison for the drug charges and up to 20 years for the alleged money laundering.

"News that Juan Saenz-Tamez has been arrested is further proof that justice is prevailing in Mexico," said John Bales, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.

Saenz-Tamez is from Camargo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

The DEA said he had moved steadily up the cartel ranks, working as a lookout, record keeper, plaza boss, and finally as leader.

Chile arrests former Pinochet aide over alleged human rights abuses

A former mayor and retired military official has been arrested in connection with human rights abuses committed under Pinochet's dictatorship. Cristian Labbe has denied any involvement in the crimes.

Deutsche Welle, 20 Oct 2014

A retired military official who served under Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested on Monday in connection with human rights abuses.

Cristian Labbe, who served as mayor of an upscale Santiago neighborhood from 1996 to 2012, was arrested with nine other former officials for the kidnapping and murder of 13 people after a 1973 military coup that brought Pinochet to power and kept him there until 1990.

He was questioned by a judge, who said there was evidence Labbe had been part of a "hierarchical organization" that became the country's feared secret police National Intelligence Directorate, or DINA by its Spanish initials.

The crimes were allegedly committed at the Tejas Verdes military base 120 kilometers west of Santiago. The DINA-run camp was used as a torture and detention center, where prisoners were said to have undergone torture methods such as mock shootings, beatings, electric shocks and the removal of fingernails.

Alvaro Elizalde, a government spokesman, told reporters on Monday that the investigation into human rights abuses was ongoing.

"We hope this can be cleared up and it's the courts that have to determine any responsibilities (in the case)," he said.

A source not authorized to speak on the matter told Reuters news agency that Judge Marianela Cifuentes was prosecuting the ten former military members.

"Cifuentes determined that the DINA had become an unlawful organization for committing crimes against humanity, and as such has prosecuted Labbe as a member of that unlawful organization."

Though the military coup which brought in the military dictatorship happened over four decades ago, there has been a recent push to bring those accused of human rights violations to justice.

Last month, Reuters reported that Santiago sought to overturn a law that protects military personnel who served during the military regime from legal prosecution.

An estimated 3,000 people were kidnapped and killed or disappeared during the 17-year dictatorship, and another 28,000 people were tortured. Augusto Pinochet died at the age of 91 in 2006, never having faced a full trial for the crimes committed during his rule.

sb/slk (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)

Venezuela elected to UN security council

Angola, Malaysia and New Zealand also successful, and Turkey and Spain face new round of voting for last available seat

The Guardian, Agencies in New York, Thursday 16 October 2014

María Gabriela Chávez, right, with her father and sister in 2011. Photograph:
Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

The daughter of Hugo Chávez is set to play a more prominent role in international politics after Venezuela was elected to the UN security council.

María Gabriela Chávez is Venezuela’s deputy ambassador at the UN mission. The country garnered 181 votes from member states to secure one of five rotating seats at the security council. Angola, Malaysia and New Zealand were also successful, and Turkey and Spain will face a new round of balloting to decide who takes the last available seat.

Special attention has been on Turkey as it is under growing pressure to do more about the war across its border in Syria. Support for Turkey dipped from the first ballot to the second. It needed at least 129 votes and got 109 in the first and 73 in the second.

Venezuela’s socialist government was unopposed for the single seat allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean. Venezuela’s foreign minister, Rafael Ramirez, dedicated “this huge triumph” to Chávez and said it came despite a “malign campaign against our country”.

The United States, which torpedoed Venezuela’s last attempt to join the council in 2006, would not discuss how it voted in the secret ballot. Ten countries abstained.

Despite the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s close ties with Syria’s Bashar Assad and Iran and his support for Russia over the Ukraine crisis, the US chose not to publicly oppose Venezuela’s candidacy this year.

Rights observers expressed concern over some of the newly elected council members. Philippe Bolopion, the UN director of Human Rights Watch, said: “The security council’s new membership could prove more problematic on human rights issues, with several generally rights-friendly countries leaving and others coming on board with poor voting records.

“This is particularly true of Venezuela, which has consistently challenged protection efforts at the [UN] Human Rights Council, but also of Angola and Malaysia, which need to demonstrate a more human rights-oriented approach in New York than they did in Geneva.”

The new members will join the council on 1 January and serve to the end of 2016. The five will replace Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda.

Related Article:

Five Countries, Including Malaysia, Set to Join World’s ‘Top Table’ at UN Security Council

Morales wins third term in Bolivian presidential election

Evo Morales has been elected for a third term as Bolivia's president in a landslide victory over his opponents. Morales's social welfare programs have made him wildly popular among the country's poor and working classes.

Deutsche Welle, 13 Oct 2014

Morales declared his victory in Sunday's presidential election a "triumph for anti-imperialists and anti-colonialists," vowing to forge ahead with socialist economic policies that have nationalized key industries and reduced widespread poverty.

"We are going to keep growing and we are going to continue the process of economic liberation," Morales told supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace in the national capital, La Paz.

The two-term incumbent won more than 60 percent of the vote, according to unofficial exit polls. His closest rival, businessman Samuel Doria Medina, trailed with just 25 percent.

Populist economic policies

Morales has redistributed wealth from a natural gas boom into social welfare programs and infrastructure projects, lifting half a million Bolivians out of poverty since 2006. The South American nation has grown by 5 percent annually and has maintained fiscal surpluses.

A native Aymara born in poverty, Morales is the first president from Bolivia's Amerindian communities, which make up around 55 percent of the population. He previously led a union for cacao growers, adding to his common man image.

"I voted for Morales," said Flavia Nunez, a 50-year-old office clerk, in central La Paz. "These other right-wing candidates would take us back in time. I don't want that."

Monopoly on power?

Critics have accused Morales of monopolizing political power and undermining press freedom by allowing allies to buy out critical media.

"There is no functional opposition, left, right or otherwise," said Jim Shultz, executive director of the left-leaning Democracy Center based in Bolivia and San Francisco.

Although a recent constitutional change limits the president to two terms, a court ruled that Morales could run a third time, since his first term preceded the change.

"This government has had two terms and I don't like it when a small clique lingers on in power," said 53-year-old Miguel Angel Perez, an economist.

Morales has been more controversial abroad, particularly in the United States. He has sought to adopt a foreign policy independent from Washington, cultivating ties with countries such as Cuba, Iran and Venezuela.

slk/crh (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Brazil opposition candidate gains key endorsement

Opposition candidate Aecio Neves has gained the key endorsement of a popular environmentalist who came third in the first round of voting. Incumbent President Dilma Rousseff is going for a second term.

Deutsche Welle, 12 Oct 2014

Marina Silva, a popular environmentalist, finished third in the first-round of Brazil's presidential election on October 5. On Sunday she gave her endorsement to the leading opposition candidate, Aecio Neves of the right-leaning Social Democracy Party.

"I will vote for Aecio and support him," she said. "I trust in the sincerity of the proposals of the candidate and his party, and I give to the Brazilian society the task to see that they are fulfilled."

The run-off is scheduled for October 26. The team around the 54-year-old Neves, a business-minded former governor, had said an endorsement from Silva would be key in their campaign to block Rousseff's bid for a second term. Neves was second in the first round vote taking 34 percent of the vote to Rousseff's 42 percent.

Neves' top economic adviser, former central bank chief Arminio Fraga, said on Friday that Neves would seek to repair ties with the United States and finalise a long-delayed free trade agreement with the European Union, if he was elected.

"We are keen to move back to a broader, more open approach to foreign policy," Fraga said.

The latest polls show Neves leading Rousseff by 46 percent to 44 percent.

jm/rc (AP, Reuters)

Pope Francis: Vatican begins landmark synod to discuss family life

BBC News, 5 October 2014

Pope Francis: Vatican begins landmark synod to discuss family life

Related Stories

• Francis: The Pope's calling
• Pope Francis strikes a new tone
• Will Pope relax stance on divorce?

Pope Francis and more than 200 senior bishops are meeting at the Vatican to discuss some of the most controversial issues affecting the Catholic Church.

They will be joined by lay Catholics to debate abortion, contraception, homosexuality and divorce.

The extraordinary Synod lasts two weeks and a follow-up meeting will be held next year.

Pope Francis said on Saturday that he wanted bishops to really listen to the Catholic community.

He said he hoped they would have a "sincere, open and fraternal" discussion that would respond to the "epochal changes" that families were living through.

Last year, a global survey launched by Pope Francis suggested that the majority of Catholics reject Church teaching on issues such as sex and contraception.

Many Catholics hope that Pope Francis' reformist attitude will help to modernise

and revitalise an ailing Church

Pope Francis was elected to lead the Church in a papal enclave in 2013

after his predecessor Benedict XI retired

On Saturday, Pope Francis led crowds in the Vatican's St Peter's Square in
a vigil to prepare for the Synod

As one of the world's oldest religious institutions, the Catholic Church is in no hurry to change its teachings, says the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt in Rome.

No-one should expect rapid results from this Synod, but many Catholics are hoping that it will bring some change, our correspondent adds.

After these two weeks of debate, the Synod will gather again in a year's time to continue its review.

The Catholic Church has more than one billion members around the world.

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Will ET Be Here Soon? NASA Brings Scientists, Theologians Together To Prepare


"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  1 - Spirituality

Number one: Spirituality. The systems of spiritual design on your planet are starting to change. This is not telling you that certain ones are going to go away. They're simply going to change. Some of the largest spiritual systems, which you would call organized religion on the planet, are shifting. They're going to shift away from that which is authority on the outside to authority on the inside. It will eventually be a different way of worship, slowly changing the rules while keeping the basic doctrine the same.

The doctrine of the Christ has always been to find the God inside. The teachings were clear. The examples of the miracles were given as an example of what humans could do, not to set a man up for worship as a God. So when that has been absorbed, the teaching of the Christ can remain the teaching of the Christ. It simply changes the interpretation.

The teachings of the great prophets of the Middle East (all related to each other) are about unity and love. So once the holy words are redefined with new wisdom, the Human changes, not the words of the prophets. In fact, the prophets become even more divinely inspired and their wisdom becomes even more profound.

You're going to lose a pope soon. I have no clock. Soon to us can mean anything to you. The one who replaces him may surprise you, for his particular organization will be in survival mode at that point in time. That is to say that fewer and fewer are interested in starting the priesthood. Fewer and fewer young people are interested in the organization, and the new pope must make changes to keep his church alive. That means that his organization will remain, but with a more modern look at what truly is before all of you in a new energy. It is not the fall of the church. It is instead the recalibration of the divinity inside that would match the worship that goes on. It's a win-win situation. The new pope will have a difficult time, since the old guard will still be there. There could even be an assassination attempt, such is the way the old energy dies hard. That is number one. Watch for it. It's a change in the way spiritual systems work. It's a realignment of spiritual systems that resound to a stronger truth that is Human driven, rather than prophet driven. .. ”

“…  3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…

Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?

The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].

Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There it a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness.  …”

Mexicans cry out for justice and change

Following the massacre of Iguala, the Mexican government has stepped up the fight against drug cartels. Despite the successful investigations, there is increased fear of an interweaving of state and criminal violence.

Deutsche Welle, 11 Oct 2014

Two weeks after the kidnapping and murder of a group of trainee teachers in the city of Iguala in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, the police investigation has begun to show some initial success. Some 34 suspects have been arrested, including 26 policemen. Mexico's army and gendarmes have taken control of Iguala and disarmed local militias.

The massacre of Iguala has left Mexico in shock, and it has re-opened the wounds of increasing violence in the country. The brutal crimes that have emerged out of a growing intermeshing of state and organized violence have stirred unrest and fear in the population.

Officially, the 43 students are still classified as "missing," but six mass graves containing 28 burned corpses have already been discovered. According to Mexico's chief state prosecutor Jesus Murillo Karam, four more graves were discovered on October 9.

The massacre in Iguala left Mexico in shock

'Their anger is our anger'

In the meantime, student organizations and the leftist militants of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) have announced their intention to avenge the murders. "We are planning some radical action," one co-student from the teacher training seminar told "El Pais" newspaper. "If necessary, we will storm the palace of the governor of Guerrero."

On October 8, around 10,000 people took to the streets of Guerrero's capital Chilpancingo to protest against the violence. In the state of Chiapas, around 20,000 supporters of the EZLN organized a march of silence through the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas. There were vigils in Mexico City and nine other Mexican states.

"The relatives need to know that they're not alone grieving," EZLN sub-commandant Moises said in a press statement. "Their pain is our pain; their anger is our anger."

Unholy alliance

The murder of the students happened at the end of September. According to Inaky Blanco, a state attorney in Guerrero, the attack on the students was carried out together by police and organized criminals.

Policemen opened fire on three buses stolen by the students. After their arrest, they were handed over to a criminal cartel called Guerreros Unidos, said to have connections with the mayor of Iguala, José Luis Abarca, who has gone missing and is thought to be on the run.

Public security and the search for the murderers of the 43 "missing" students has since topped the agenda in Mexico. On October 9, Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido proudly announced the arrest of drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.

Government under pressure

Despite that success, and an increase in the security budget, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has come under increasing pressure. The national security strategy is underpinned with a 7.6-billion-euro ($9.6 billion) "National program for social crime and violence prevention."

Vicente Carrillo was arrested on October 9

But human rights organizations consider the official security strategy inadequate. "The massacre of Iguala shows how little the Mexican state cares about human rights," says Perseo Quiroz, director of Amnesty International Mexico. "It blames organized crime to eliminate its responsibility."

Mexican political scientist Carlos Pérez Ricart says the repression of rebellious students is "not unusual." "The question is: how many Igualas have to be uncovered before something can change," he says. "The situation recalls events in the Balkans 20 years ago, when more and more massacres were found. It was the same as Mexico today: No one is responsible."

Different statistics

A month ago, on September 2, Nieto unveiled new statistics that said the murder rate in the country had dropped by 15 percent between January and August 2014, compared to the same period last year. Kidnappings had dropped by nine percent, and blackmail by 22 percent.

The Mexican human rights commission CNDH has different figures. It recorded 600 percent more reports of torture and abuse from policemen and soldiers compared to ten years ago - the result of more military operations against drug rings. The disappearance of human rights activists has increased by 60 percent under Nieto's government, compared to that of his predecessor Felipe Calderón.

In the 2014 Global Peace Index, Mexico is rated at 138 out of 162 countries. "Since the start of military operations against the powerful cartels at the end of 2006, violence has increased significantly in Mexico," the report, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), says. The crackdown on the drugs trade caused the cartels to open new lines of business - with kidnapping and blackmail.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC), the murder rate in Mexico has increased significantly, to 21.5 victims per 100,000 inhabitants. In regions controlled by the cartels, that figure is at 100 murders. The worldwide average is 6.2.

"The massacre in Iguala is one of the most horrific and serious human rights abuses under the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto," says Quiroz. "There are clear indications that state security forces were involved."

Related Article:

Mass grave found near Mexico town where 43 students vanished

Mass grave found near Mexico town where 43 students vanished

Authorities in Mexico have uncovered a mass grave in the restive southern state of Guerrero. The burial pits are located near a town where 43 students disappeared in a deadly police shooting last week.

Deutsche Welle, 5 Oct 2014

Guerrero State Prosecutor Inaky Blanco told reporters Saturday that "pits with bone remains" had been found outside of Iguala, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Mexico City. He did not provide details on the number of bodies, or indicate whether they could be some of the students who went missing after a violent confrontation with city police.

Local and state police cordoned off the area upon the grave's discovery, in the rough terrain of a hillside community that belongs to the Iguala municipality.

"In the next few hours we will determine the cause of death and the number of bodies," said Jorge Valdez, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, adding that the bodies were being exhumed.

The 43 students vanished last week after Iguala police shot at buses they had seized to return to their teacher training college near the state capital, Chilpancingo. Three students were killed and 25 people were wounded.

Several hours later, unidentified masked gunmen fired on taxis and a bus carrying a football team on the main highway, killing three people.

Following the violence, police said that 43 students had been missing since their confrontation with the police.

Possible organized crime links

Guerrero state Governor Angel Aguirre said investigators were looking into organized criminal gang involvement, with the possibility they may have infiltrated the local government.

Blanco has said that police are being investigated for their roles in the students' disappearance.

Aguirre said earlier this week that photos showed police taking some of the students away, and 22 officers were arrested in Guerrero Sunday accused of killing two students who died in the clashes.

A lawyer for a local human rights group helping the families of the missing said before the discovery of the mass grave that relatives believed police turned the students over to a drug gang.

"The suspicion, the hypothesis, is that they are being held by organized crime gangs that operated in collusion with the police," said Vidulfo Rosales, adding students who escaped the shooting said they saw other students being put into police pickup trucks.

The United Nations has called the case "one of the most terrible events of recent times," urging Mexican authorities to carry out an "effective and diligent" search for the missing students.

Guerrero is one of the most violent states in Mexico, a country that has seen around 100,000 people killed by drug gang violence since 2007.

dr/ (AP, Reuters, AFP)