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| Photo: Cuartoscuro |
CNN Mexico: Tania L. Montalvo
Mexico City - The 20 young people who, by Wednesday night, had spent five-days in a sit-in at the Rectory [administrative] building of UNAM [National Autonomous University of Mexico] know it is time to "change their position".
What they demanded last Friday, when they broke windows to enter the property, is no longer the priority. The most important thing now is not serving sentences of between 10 and 20 years in prison, while not neglecting "the struggle for free education" .
Behind the barrier created with chairs and other office furniture, youth who have remained hooded dialogue with students from the Schools of Law and Political Science who make their own arguments to defend or reject the Rectory protest. They converse calmly. Groups with complaints, questions and expressions of support come both morning and afternoon, in the sun and in the rain.
Two hooded youth say they are afraid, that they equally fear a violent eviction by the Federal Police, as well as "being snatched" outside their homes and "then tortured for leading a protest against the State."
"We have already received several threats and know that it is prudent to take another position," says one of the youth.One can barely make out his eyes because, besides using a black bandanna to cover his nose and mouth, at times he chooses to cover his head and face completely with a sweater.
Other students ask more than four times for him to uncover and identify himself, but he refuses, saying his life is in danger and, because of this, their demands have changed. Now, although they are "in the fight" for the five students expelled from the College of Science and Humanities (CCH) of Naucalpan [a preparatory or high school that it part of UNAM] for excesses in a seizure of that institution in February, and for those who initiated the seizure of the Rectory, now
the "most important thing is not to end up in jail."
"That's why we asked the rector [president] (José Narro) and his attorney to sign a document guaranteeing that there will be no criminal charges, that they aren't going to prosecute us, that we'll be safe when we are done with this. After that, we are asking for a dialogue, a dialogue with our peers who were expelled, Narro and the director of the CCH."The occupiers claim that during the early hours of Wednesday Federal Police could seen hovering around the Rectory building. They requested support from the student community gathered in the square and, for the first time since the demonstration began, there is consensus. The student community doesn't agree with having the Federal Police enter University City [UNAM's main campus]. Amid cries, they listen to proposals as to how to avoid it.
"Get out before Friday, on Saturday they will come for you", "accept dialogue", "require that Narro come here", "we might make student guards to prevent the police from coming," "we'll sign a letter about our opposition to the Federal Police".In all the discussions there is an absolute rejection of the use of the police. Those who oppose the seizure of the Rectory demand an open dialogue before the arrival of the Federal Police, and those who support the protest ask the protesters to endure and count on the support of other students to prevent "abuse by the State".
Lot Balderas Aranda and Roberto Medina, two members of the UNAM board of advisers and graduates of the School of Law, propose that they lead a round-table to prevent the protesters from going to jail and so that the police don't recover the Rectory. They even offer legal counsel to defend them in court.
They are the first persons from outside the Rectory to gain entry to present their proposal, but the protesters reject it and ask them to identify themselves fully as administrative employees of the university and not give false information about the student movement.
Lot and Roberto say that although the protesters had their faces covered, they could see that they were afraid of going to jail.
"We explained to them the limits of the autonomy of UNAM and, yes, if Narro himself asks, the police can come and there is no violation [of university autonomy] whatsoever, and less so if they have committed a crime. They said they knew this, but they would not accept mediators."Then the confrontation between students resumes. Some call those who seek release of the Rectory "infiltrators", and others shout "help, help, Narro is a thug" [this rhymes in Spanish], while the traditional UNAM "Goya" cheer is raised like a flag by those who oppose the demonstration.
"We have to present an image of struggle, not a picture of crouching and turning our backs on our companions. Smears are for those who do not oppose the undemocratic system of the university," says Ricardo, a student of philosophy.The argument that gets more cheers and applause from the student community is that of Juan Carlos of the School of Political Science:
"the heart of the university isn't busted; those who believe that UNAM isn't a structure any more are delivering its heart."To calm down feelings, one of the masked men takes the floor and acknowledges that
"there were other forms" of protest, but if they hadn't done as they did, "thousands would never have heard of the struggle for free education. This is a country of extreme measures in order to get results," he argues.They look for a guarantee that they will not to go to jail after five days in the Rectory, but they clarify that "nothing will make them withdraw from the fight."
The protesters are opposed to an education reform at the high school and university levels. They say the proposal would require that
"students be full-time, with the establishment of long days, thus negating any possibility that they can also work."They deny that they are opposed to a new curriculum that requires them to study English and computers at the high school level, but reject it for giving priority to these changes
"in order to meet the demands of a capitalist system" over one of "quality education, that is scientific, humanistic, integrated and critical."After a meeting on Wednesday in which students from the Schools of Philosophy, Political Science and Architecture also participated, they decided to demand the resignation of the rector, José Narro, if the Federal Police intervene to free the building.
In their decision making, they also agreed to expand their encampment so that any UNAM student can join and to carry out a march on Thursday at 2:00PM asking the university community to reject the criminalization of the protest.
In the encampment, the night falls with the sounds of a guitar and the voice of a young woman who appeared on Friday in Rectory with her face covered. In her song of protest, she speaks of paramilitaries, saying that in Mexico,
"no one stops the mercenaries of pain, the mercenaries of death."Spanish original