Slandering Lopez Obrador over the Ayotzinapa/Iguala massacre

Right now in Mexico the media machinery is maligning with all they have main leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) charging him with the Iguala massacre while covering up President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Most of Mexican media as well as political pundits -organic intellectuals as Gramsci called them- are right wing leaning. Most of them clearly biased, and some other pretend they are not but when the Status quo is in trouble, they add up to support the Regime. One of these moments is happening now

This Organic Intellectuals and politicians of the right wing ruling parties say AMLO is accountable for the rise to power of Jose Luis Abarca, the Mayor of the Iguala, the city where the massacre took place. Their case rest upon 2 pieces of evidence: (1) pictures of AMLO and the former Mayor of Iguala City and (2) the testimonial of a Deputy who claims he tipped off AMLO about the law-breaking activities of the former Mayor and he did nothing about it.

During the first weeks after the massacre, the media was asking why AMLO had not reacted about former Mayor Jose Luis Abarca, indicted for the massacre. The complaint was AMLO's silence. On October 14, 2014 AMLO said during a speech at Columbia University he did not supported the campaign of Angel Aguirre to be Governor of the State of Guerrero, where the massacre took place. On October 26^th 20014 in front of thousands of supporters in the Zocalo, the main square of Mexico, AMLO restated he didn't supported Abarca in any way and requested the impeachment of President Enrique Peña Nieto for the Ayotzinapa/Iguala Massacre

Now let's take a look at the evidences pandered by the media

1. The pictures of AMLO and former Mayor Jose Luis Abarca. It's customary for politicians during campaign to take selfies with anyone who request it. AMLO is a tireless politician that has traveled across Mexico more than 4 or 5 times, which no one else have done. In one day he can travel 3 cities rallying crowds in every one. AMLO has allowed people to take pictures of him whenever requested. Because of his popularity many politicians ask for a selfie with AMLO as if a celebrity even if it's not time of elections.
   
   
   
    
   Former Major Jose Luis Abarca requested selfies with AMLO, that's what right wing media says, but what they hide is the selfie of the former Mayor with President Enrique Peña Nieto. However the Mexican media is portraying the selfies of AMLO as an extraordinary evidence which can only be explained by the complicit of AMLO
2. The alleged tip-off about the criminal activities of Mayor Jose Luis Abarca. The newspaper Reforma published a testimony of a Deputy who says he tipped -off AMLO about the allegiance of Mayor of Iguala and a drug cartel. This Deputy is Oscar Diaz Bello, he was interviewed by a well known right wing broadcaster Adela Micha a few days ago. This deputy said back in 2012, he was the front runner for the nomination of the PRD party for Iguala City, however the party chose Jose Luis Abarca and not him. He thought this was unfair, and wanted to share his dissatisfaction with AMLO who was then the Presidential candidate of the PRD party. He took the chance in one of the many times AMLO visited Iguala City, as usual rallying hundreds to the streets
   This deputy went on saying, he couldn't come near to him, however he managed to put himself in front of the AMLO's van while leaving the city and forced AMLO to roll down the window. AMLo was driving and the deputy talked to him for minutes. He told him he was the front runner and he deserved to be the PRD nominee, what was his main concern. AMLO replied he cannot do anything because nominations were decided by the new leaders of the PRD party. Deputy Diaz Bello acknowledges AMLO was right, the nominations were in the hands of the leaders of the PRD party, specifically he names: (Jesus)“Zambrano”
   Deputy Bello said he gave AMLO a newspaper article – just one. That article was from Proceso Magazine, where apparently linked Former Mayor Abarca with a drug cartel. The Deputy acknowledges the information contained in the newspaper article he gave to AMLO, have not been confirmed in any way. He didn't trust it either so as to put it in the hands of authorities to start and inquiry.
   Right wing written accounts state that AMLO shook hands with former mayor Jose Luis Abarca that day, however Deputy Bello says he can't remember if that happened, and it would be lying if he says so

AMLO was member of the PRD party till 2012, but he was at odds with the PRD leaders since 2006, when a faction -”Los Chuchos”- supported the right wing privatizing agenda, in a change considered by many, tantamount to betrayal of the principles of the PRD. Despite his huge popularity among PRD adherents, AMLO had little influence on decisions taken by PRD leaders after 2006. The PRD came to a brief truce with AMLO for the 2012 Presidential elections, this respite ended right after the election when AMLO left for good the PRD and decided to create a new party: MORENA. So its unlikely AMLO had anything to do with the local nominees of the PRD.

AMLO was and is a citizen, a very remarkable one, but he cannot take justice in his hands. He cannot dispatch a party to investigate allegations of corruption. It's not he don't want, it's he just can't. His resources are limited. What right media don't say is there are a Judicial branch of the Government who has the resources and the legal mandate to prosecute crimes and investigate this kind of tip-offs. Rene Bejarano another PRD politician also gave a tip off to the Atorney General of Mexico about crimes committed by former mayor Abarca, however this is silenced by right wing media which is concentrated on a barrage against AMLO.

Former Mayor of Iguala is a fugitive and at large at least that's what our government says. But I wouldn't be surprised if he were negotiating a lessened prison term in exchange for incriminating or smearing AMLO at least

Yes, Ayotzinapa/Iguala Massacre was a State Crime, but how deep runs the responsibility?

The wanton massacre of 6 and kidnapping of 43 young Mexican students of the rural teachers School of Ayotzinapa on September 26^th 2014, could be been foretold long enough to be averted if we look back to the late history of Mexico.

Throughout the past 2 years President Enrique Peña Nieto and right wing affiliates like “Mexicanos Primero” have advocated for a education Reform, which is strongly opposed by the left wing leaning teachers union: the CNTE. CNTE union convened massive rallies across the country and a sit-in in the center of Mexico: the Zocalo.

Media portrayed those teachers contending the Reform as lazy and bad teachers. The right leaning Government of the Estado de Mexico sent a bill to the local congress to jail all teachers taking part in public demonstrations and parades. The most visited online news site of Mexico “El Universal” posted on September 2013 a heading stating: “With full pockets the CNTE leaves Mexico City” hinting teacher's union just wanted money and after they got it they left. This was not true, until October 2013 teacher kept their sit-in in Mexico City, still awaiting for an answer from the Federal Government. Graco Ramirez Governor of the State of Morelos asked to have a “hard line” against teachers of the neighboring State of Guerrero. Business organizations requested a strong arm against teachers rallies. In Mexico as in any other Capitalist Latin American State the borders between economic and politic power are blurred

Early this year, when the think tank The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) issued a widely advertised bulletin claiming the average wage of Mexican teachers was 25 000 MXN a month and some of them earned more than the Mexican President or the President of the US. Mexican teachers rejected that was true, flawed data bases were used by the IMCO and lack of direct confirmation of the factuality of those data bases were exposed. Some officials in the Government disapproved IMCO's conclusions too, but the rebuttal was not hyped as much as the IMCO report.

Attacks on teachers had been physical too. In 2011, two students of the same rural teachers School of Ayotzinapa were killed by the State Police of Guerrero during a rally while asking for a meeting with the Governor. In 2013, three teachers were pelted with stones during a demonstration causing them serious head injuries. The attack was pinned on unknown residents of the Tepito neighborhood in Mexico City, but nobody was charged. Right wing commentators gloated on the class- conscious insults teachers suffered while being attacked.

Even the Major of the Mexico City dispatched the local police to avoid any demonstration of teachers in the Zocalo, the central square of Mexico city. This was an strange occurrence bearing in mind that himself ran for office supported by a left wing party (the PRD the same party of the Governor of Guerrero at the time of the massacre). The PRD had been sympathetic to teachers cause in previous years, but President Peña Nieto made an agreement with the leaders of the PRD called “Pact for Mexico” to carry out his economical and political Neoliberal Reforms

A more disturbing omen came on August 12^th 2014 just one month before the massacre, a journalist close related to the right wing, Carlos Loret the Mola quoted a phrase from a meeting of President Enrique Peña Nieto and his cabinet while discussing teachers boldness: “We are going to fuck them up”. Carlos Loret is known for being very well connected inside the Government even with the intelligence services. He didn't said who or how this came to his knowledge.

After a month from the massacre of Iguala, some journalistic accounts say the Mexican army helped the gunmen to flee the scene. At this moment there are still 43 missing students, even though several mass graves nearby have been unearthed, the prosecutors said the corpses do not belong to the missing students. However a local catholic priest known for helping migrants, Alejandro Solalinde said all 43 students were burned alive and are dead, and the Government knows this but for some reason they do not release any confirmation. He goes further stating that the motive of the massacre was political differences of the students and the government, unlike the official version that claims it was just a drug related crime and nothing else.