VCU news

By Brian McNeill

Parents and siblings of several of the 43 college students who were kidnapped last September in Guerrero, Mexico, will speak at Virginia Commonwealth University about their families’ experiences, and about human rights violations in Mexico more generally. The visit is part of a U.S. speaking tour called Caravana 43.

The families of the abducted students, who attended the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers' College of Ayotzinapa, will hold a Q&A on Friday, April 3, at 2 p.m. in the Academic Learning Commons, room 2201.

"It has now been half a year since 43 college students in Mexico were detained by local police officers and then, according to the government, handed over to a drug cartel, who presumably killed them all," said Jason Ross Arnold, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science in the College of Humanities and Sciences. "Although the Mexican government has arrested suspects and overall made the investigation a high priority, many parents of the missing students believe prosecutors have pulled punches because of the tight relationships between organized crime organizations and local politicians."

The talk will be free and open to the public.

"We are very fortunate that some of these parents will be at VCU to help explain the interplay of drug cartels and local political organizations in Mexico, and why they think the Mexican government has not gone far enough in investigating this tragedy," Arnold said.

VCU's Department of Political Science is sponsoring the event. It is part of the department's Global and Human Security Speaker Series. Other VCU sponsors include the Global Education Office, the Latino Student Association, Students for Social Action, and Immigration Reform at VCU. Outside sponsors include the Wayside Center for Popular Education and Black Action Now.