{"id":1107,"date":"2015-01-13T10:55:42","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T17:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=1107"},"modified":"2015-01-13T12:45:22","modified_gmt":"2015-01-13T19:45:22","slug":"oaxaca-and-the-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=1107","title":{"rendered":"Oaxaca and the 43"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Oaxaca,<\/a><\/p>\n

In Oaxaca, the number is everywhere<\/strong> \u2013 43. As are the words \u2013 Ayotzinapa<\/a>, desaparecidos, justicia<\/em>. And the faces \u2013 Jose, Julio, Luis, Carlos and more, all young men, all dead, all still missing.<\/p>\n

The memory of the murdered students of Ayotzinapa<\/strong> is inescapable. Their faces stare out from posters plastered to walls. Banners hang from every public school denouncing their deaths. Arcing strands of black graffiti damn the government and demand answers.<\/p>\n

In the zocalo, the city\u2019s social heart, the faces of the victims hang from long strands of colorful construction paper<\/strong>, mixing with the Christmas lights and the blue tarps and orange and green tents of the unionized teachers who have lived in the square for months and have now incorporated the students of Ayotzinapa \u2013 who were studying education \u2013 into their grievances. The effect is cartoonish, but terribly sad.<\/p>\n

Passersby ignore the signs and walk past the tents. The shoeshine men buff boots beneath silent, staring faces. Mariachis play. Life goes on \u2013 for all but the 43.<\/strong> They are Mexico\u2019s sordid past. They are Mexico\u2019s violent present. They are Mexico\u2019s precarious future.<\/p>\n