Australia was no reprieve for EPN from the Ayotzinapa students controversy

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

The G20 summit was held in Australia this year.

The Group of Twenty (G20) as it is known by, is an economic summit is comprised of  19 countries plus the European Union.  President Barack Obama and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto are two of this years attendees.

Protest groups, are not known to pass up such a prime opportunity to vent their objection to one social cause or another, and the G20 was well represented by demonstrators.  Groups wearing anonymous masks, carrying signs and banners represented dozens of causes, were represented in numbers over 1000.  An eclectic range of issues including climate change, global inequality, aborigines inequality  the conflict in Ukraine and the 43 missing students of Ayotzinapa.

If President Pena thought he would be afforded relief  from the hotseat he and his administration find themselves on,  stemming from the normalistas killings….well he was in for a  surprise.

The Mexican president has been heavily criticized for his leaving Mexico during the upheaval of protest and unrest, which many have compared to as the worse since 1968 when 44-300 people were killed by government snipers.

Australia’s Mexican community have been peacefully demonstrating against EPN’s participation in the G20 summit, rather than his choosing to stay in Mexico and working for a solution in  the Iguala student massacres. 

“We would like to see awareness about that being raised and that we can call on the [Mexican] government to change their tactics,” organizing leader Ms Lulu Garcia said.

"What the hell is he doing here in Brisbane when he should be in Mexico fixing the problem?" said Sean Cleary, another organizer.

The protest aims to promote solidarity among the Australian-Mexican community and their families and friends in Mexico.

“I want the community to feel that they are supported and feel that we can support our families and our community back home. We have a homicide rate of over fifty people per day, all because of violence,” Ms Garcia said.

Ms Garcia is disappointed in the  Australian governments’ lack of response to the continuing issue.

“Maybe they haven’t been properly informed about the situation in Mexico and the latest declarations about Mr Peña. The investigation is an insult to the families and the Mexican community, who are aware. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said “Australia joins the Mexican Government in condemning the disappearance and apparent murder of students in Iguala. We welcome Mexico’s investigation into the events and their perpetrators, and its ongoing efforts to strengthen the rule of law and human rights.”

Protest groups small and large stationed themselves in different points of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

 Some material from Facebook and The Source was used to write this article