Mexico at breaking point as anti-government anger escalates

[cbayer]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/20/mexico-protests-anti-government-anger-violence-students-president

Corruption and violence threaten to destabilise country after mass murder of students and scandal over presidential home

Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
theguardian.com, Thursday 20 November 2014 01.20 GMT


Over time the focus of the protests has moved from demands for the return of the students to spasms of disbelief in the government. Photograph: Marco Ugarte/AP

Mexico is facing an escalating political crisis amid growing fury over a mansion built for the presidential family and the disappearance and probable massacre of 43 student teachers.

The two apparently unrelated issues have fed the widespread perception that unbridled political corruption is the underlying cause of the country’s many problems – ranging from stunted economic growth to a breakdown of law and order that has left parts of the country at the mercy of murderous drug cartels.

“The drama of Mexico is about impunity,” said leading political commentator Jesús Silva-Herzog. “This is not about the popularity or unpopularity of the president, that is irrelevant. It is about credibility and trust and, at its root, it is about legitimacy.”

Thousands of protestors are expected to join a mass demonstration planned for Thursday in Mexico City to protest over the disappearance of the students by municipal police in collusion with a local drug gang in the southern city of Iguala six weeks ago.

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