Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School, commonly known as the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School, is a men's
normal school, located in the municipality of
Tixtla
Tixtla (formally, Tixtla de Guerrero) (, ) is a town and seat of the municipality of Tixtla de Guerrero in the Mexican state of Guerrero.
The name is Nahuatl, and means either "maize dough" ''(masa) ''from ''textli;'' "our valley" from ''to ix ...
,
Guerrero
Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...
,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. The school is part of the rural teacher's education system that was created as part of an ambitious mass education plan implemented by the state in the 1920s.
Moisés Sáenz was the head of the Secretariat of Public Education at the time of the school's creation. The project for rural teachers' normal schools had a strong component of social transformation, which has made it a hotbed for social movements. In that sense, Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School is where important figures such as
Lucio Cabañas Barrientos and
Genaro Vázquez Rojas were educated and later on led important guerrilla movements in the state of Guerrero during the 20th century.
Education
The Rural Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School offers licensing to students that want to work in the elementary education system. The school is regulated by the educational standards that rule the state of Guerrero and in all of Mexico. According to a survey made by the State's Secretariat of Public Education of Guerrero, in Ayotzinapa there were 532 students, served by 6 Technical Support workers. The students are all male. The students come primarily from poor families that live in areas with the lowest human development indexes in Mexico and areas with a high illiteracy rate.
History
Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School was founded in 1926 by the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico, directed by
Moisés Sáenz. These normal schools were based on the ideals of taking education to smaller towns, an idea proposed by
José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos Calderón (28 February 1882 – 30 June 1959), called the "cultural " of the Mexican Revolution, was an important Mexicans, Mexican writer, philosopher, and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial pers ...
, the Mexican Secretary of Education at the time.
Some of the notable former students of Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School include
Lucio Cabañas Barrientos,
Genaro Vázquez Rojas and
Othón Salazar. Cabañas was a leader of the
Party of the Poor, a guerrilla organization with a notable presence in the southeast of Guerrero.
Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School's history of educating social leaders has led to its reputation as a hotbed for guerrilla conflict. Every year ''normalista'' students went to Guerrero's capital city
Chilpancingo
Chilpancingo de los Bravo (commonly shortened to Chilpancingo; ; Nahuatl: Chilpantzinco ()) is the capital and second-largest city of the Mexican state of Guerrero. In 2010 it had a population of 187,251 people. The municipality has an area of ...
, to voice their demands to the government in protests and demonstrations. They sought changes in their institution, including in the budget for students' on-campus living.
2014 Kidnapping
On the night of September 26, 2014, a group of students from this institution hijacked some buses hoping that they could participate in the demonstrations of October 2 in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. Allegedly, elements from the municipal police of
Iguala and members of the criminal organization
Guerreros Unidos attacked the group of students under the command of José Luis Abarca Velázquez, the mayor of Iguala.
This event resulted in the disappearance of 43 students, 6 dead people, and 25 injured.
News of the attack made international headlines with numerous international and human rights organizations urging the Mexican State to conduct an in-depth investigation.
On October 9, the guerrilla group ERPI, ''Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo Insurgente'' (People's Insurgent Revolutionary Army), announced the creation of ''Brigada de ajusticiamiento 26 de Septiembre'' and declared this brigade united against the murder of these students.
On January 27, 2015, the
Attorney General of Mexico
The attorney general of the Republic is the head of the Attorney General's Office (; prior to 2019, ) and the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office of the United Mexican States, an institution belonging to the Federal Government's constitutional ...
notified about their advances on the investigation on the missing students, clarifying that it was basically an inside job between
Guerreros Unidos and the
PRD mayor in Iguala, José Luis Abarca. The students were kidnapped, murdered, incinerated and the ashes thrown into a river. According to the official version from the National Attorney, Los Rojos (the rival group of Guerreros Unidos), along with the Dean of Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School, had encouraged the students to go on the demonstrations against the mayor of Iguala. Due to the confusion and the uncertainty about whether or not they were students or members of their rival group Los Rojos, or a mix of both, the
Guerreros Unidos cartel decided to just execute these students as they usually would with antagonistic groups and were supported by PRD's authorities in Iguala, given the constant revolts from the students and their frequent protests. The disappearances and deaths of the students and innocents on the buses have played roles in the administrations of Mexican presidents
Enrique Peña Nieto
Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican former politician and lawyer who was the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he p ...
and
Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...
, as civilians and protestors have demanded a clear and thorough investigation.
References
External links
Official websiteMexico's Missing 43: Mass Kidnapping Overview (January 2015)A timeline
{{Authority control
Men's universities and colleges
Education in Guerrero
Educational institutions established in 1926
1926 establishments in Mexico