“Forty-three are missing and we want them back alive.” This was and still is the outcry of tens of thousands individuals in several demonstrations in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and many cities and universities all over the world. These 43 first-year students from the rural school of Ayotzinapa in the state of Guerrero, headed to Iguala city at the end of September to collect money to go to Mexico City to attend a national demonstration.  

There was nothing unusual in this yearly traditional memorial march, and the students’ attempt to attend, except for the misfortune that it coincided with a political event being held by the Iguala mayor’s wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa, on Sept. 26. This political event was aimed at promoting Mrs. Pineda Villa’s image, as it was widely speculated she wanted succeed her husband as mayor. 

Iguala’s mayor, José Luis Abarca, perceived the presence of the students as a threat to the success of his wife’s event. He proceeded to send city police to stop the students, the police used such violence that they began shooting the buses killing six individuals, wounding 25, and 43 were tortured and kidnapped. 

Although everyone around heard the shots, including military forces posted less than a mile away from the site, they chose to stay put. Meanwhile, the 43 arrested students were taken to police headquarters from where they were handed out to members of “Guerreros Unidos,” a local criminal organization that was under the orders of the mayor of Iguala (or of which he was a member). They were ordered to kill them and disappear their remains.

Eighty-four policemen and criminals were arrested as well as the major of Iguala and his wife. But the scandal was only beginning to brew: families and friends of the 43 missing students began marching and society started reacting. Public demonstrations, demands on social networks, and political pressure forced the resignation of the governor of the state of Guerrero, who it was supposed, had known for months that Abarca, the mayor, had links with “Guerreros Unidos."

This is a horrific fact, but it is also proof of the collusion of authorities with organized crime; the breakdown of the political parties’ system, that just like a tsunami has destroyed any remaining credibility in every and almost all institutions of Mexico as a nation. The attempts to manage this political crisis are useless. Almost no one in Mexico believes that the federal government is not responsible for this outrageous situation; on the contrary, it is just as responsible as the criminals who carried out the orders to kill. 

Meanwhile, another political crisis has exploded: the “white house affair” as it is called, exploded as news just at the same time as the Ministry of Communications announced a $4.2 billion public contract for a Mexican contractor and a Chinese firm to build a fast train from Mexico City to Queretaro. 

Immediately it became public knowledge that the Mexican contractor that obtained this government contract had also been the one responsible for buying the land, financing the purchase and building the “white house,” for Mexico’s First Lady, and it was assumed that she facilitated the contract concession in exchange.

The scandal was such that the government backed down from the decision, and the contract was no longer awarded to the Mexican contractor and the Chinese group. All this only days before President Peña Nieto traveled to China for the G20 meeting, in which the Chinese Minister openly talked about his frustration with the decision to back off from the contract decision.

Meanwhile, the 43 students from Ayotzinapa were still missing, and the President of Mexico had not even met with the families. It was not until Oct. 29, a month after the disappearance, that the President received the families in the Presidential House. That is, the families had to travel to see the President and not the other way around. By then the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and even Pope Francis had issued statements requesting governmental action to find the missing students. 

The marches in favor of Ayotzinapa have not stopped, but it should be noted that Mexican media focus their cameras only at the few “infiltrated agents” that exercise violence during these demonstrations. Some even burned the Federal Palace’s wooden door — though pictures on social networks show that the provocateurs were being protected by the military while they were at it. The public claims that violence should not be tolerated, but people also fear that the government may be generating violent acts to obtain the support of the Mexican middle class against criminal activities by the so-called “anarchist” protestors.

The fact is that it is almost impossible to determine what is true and what is just government propaganda trying to divert attention. 

But if Mexico’s political situation was in crisis, the economic situation could not get any worse. With the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, the Mexican peso has lost around 35 percent of its value, which will certainly reflect in consumer prices since our economy is highly dependent upon imports. Worse, oil prices are dropping below the US $60mark, which means that an important source of revenue for the Mexican government will be reduced. All of this is happening just a couple months before the mid-term elections in June next year, which will determine the political disposition of lower house in Congress but also the government of several states.

All the political parties have been dramatically affected by the crisis. In official speeches, President Peña Nieto has claimed that his government is under siege. The question is, by whom? Just a day ago he publicly praised the powerful media group Televisa. No one could understand the reasons for that, but there it is; a president who is under scrutiny since his election for being the candidate that the media group imposed on Mexican people, feels that it is time to make sure that he still praises this media group.

It is true. Propaganda and media control are the best resources to control a political and economic crisis, but, for how long? Televisa has suffered from lack of credibility. Just recently, on their yearly event to collect funds for “selected charities,” they almost missed the mark, something that had never been thought possible. This after the United Nations declared that the Mexican government should not donate resources to private institutions through which they procure to provide care for those in need. A declaration that has been obviously deemed an act of incongruence and ignorance by the UN, by all TV conductors and news anchors — since the opposite would make them loose their jobs with the monopoly media group.

Things are all stirred up in Mexico; violence is not under control, institutions lack credibility, and political parties — who at the beginning of Peña Nieto’s government signed a pact to pass the structural reforms required for an explosive economic growth — have destroyed each other. No one believes in politicians and though new laws continue to be passed, everyone could not care less, they know they will not apply unless it is convenient for the person in charge. 

Mexicans feel under siege. We fear our authorities because they act with impunity, they have colluded with organized crime, and the law does not apply to them. Many are suffering the consequences of the lack of economic growth; more than 42 million live in poverty, and 12.5 million live in misery, with nothing to lose. And to quote Machiavelli: never should a government put people in a state in which they have nothing to lose if they revolt.

Mexico is a bombshell ready to explode. Watch out, because this bomb is a nuke and it is in your backyard.

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Purificación Carpinteyro is a Mexican politician and lawyer affiliated with the PRD. She currently serves as Deputy of the LXII Legislature of the Mexican Congress representing the Federal District.