Family members of the 43 college students who were kidnapped last September in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico will visit Grand Valley State University April 7.
The visit by two parents and one survivor of the incident is part of the U.S. speaking tour, “Caravana 43.” It is centered around human rights violations and the events of September 26, 2014, when 43 students at Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College disappeared after witnesses saw them clash with local police. The students are still missing.
Ayotzinapa: What’s Happening in Mexico
Tuesday, April 7
8-10 p.m.
Multipurpose Room, Mary Idema Pew Library
Allendale Campus
The parents plan to take their case to the Inter-American Commission, Amnesty International and the United Nations. Photos of the students’ faces, carried on placards in demonstrations throughout Mexico and in other countries, have become symbols of the tens of thousands of forced disappearances and more than 100,000 killings in Mexico since 2006.
The event is organized in collaboration with the Coalition Justice for Ayotzinapa: Grand Rapids and Grand Valley’s Community Service Learning Center. It is sponsored by Grand Valley’s Advocates for Immigration Reform, Hermanos, Latino Male Scholar Initiative, Latin American Studies and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
For more information, contact Adriana Almanza, Grand Valley admissions counselor and advisor of Advocates for Immigration Reform student organization, at [email protected] or (616) 331-2025.
