It’s Saturday morning in the rural Mexican state of Zacatecas and we are in English class. Antonio Acosta gives basic lessons to 35 teachers. “In! Between! Over! On!” he shouts out during one exercise. English levels vary, so Acosta is reviewing some of the basics.

In the class is Nora Santana. She can speak English fine, but feels rusty, too. She’s here to feel more comfortable with the language in order to better connect with her new students, those who grew up in the United States and who are having trouble keeping up with classes in Spanish. “They feel so confused,” said Santana. “They don’t understand everything I teach in Spanish.”

Other teachers, like Eduardo García, speak very little English and hit communication walls quickly with new students, especially those now arriving unable to speak Spanish at all.

In recent years, Acosta, an education official here, has witnessed the influx of school-aged kids returning to Mexico. They arrive with their parents, who have left the United States because they are undocumented or couldn’t find work. Acosta says the kids can feel disoriented in a Mexican classroom—like foreigners, but in what is supposedly their own nation.

Now, Acosta is pioneering a project to get Mexican teachers more accustomed to English. While some believe that the money might be better spent other ways, Acosta says that English classes are critical to help teachers and their students adjust.

Mexican teachers learning English take a break from class (Photo: Myles Estey)

The class is best suited for teachers like 28-year-old Ari Rodríguez.

Rodríguez says she can have a tough time communicating with some of her new students from the US and keeps English crib notes handy. She mentions one newcomer, Juan, though he goes by John in the US. He is a soft-spoken 13-year-old, who just moved here from Texas. But when you hear Juan and Rodríguez speak, it’s clear that Juan’s Spanish is improving fast.

Juan is getting good grades here, too, except in Spanish and History. He still cannot articulate his answers to his teachers. “Its kind of hard to explain it,” Juan says. “Like, when I don’t know how to say the words, I just try to explain it to them.”

But for most students, speaking isn’t the hardest part—it’s classroom comprehension.

Meet Ashley. She’s 11, and born and raised in Southern California. She just moved to Zacatecas with her parents, who were undocumented in the US. Ashley speaks Spanish perfectly, but has always done her reading and writing in English. She is struggling to read in Spanish and finds the overall transition “weird.”

Ashley’s younger brother, Yoel, is also having a hard time at it. But he’s relieved to be here with his older sister, and a cousin is here, too. Being together, speaking English in the schoolyard, it makes their new life in Mexico easier. And they keep in touch in English with their friends back in the US over Facebook.

Luis Roberto Castañeda directs Zacatecas’ Migration Institute. He says of the 13,000 or so kids who have lived in the US and are now in the Zacatecas school system, nearly all have some difficulty at school. And there are no national programs in Mexico to attend to these students’ needs. Castañeda says that when the US-born students cannot fully understand classes, they do mental translations back to English. It slows them down.

Like Castañeda, Acosta believes that his pilot project is more than learning English: It represents an effort to help US-born children feel more welcome in Mexico and tune their teachers to the fact that their students straddle two worlds.

“They have two cultures, American and Mexican culture,” says Acosta. “Where am I from?” they ask.

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Just days before taking office, Enrique Peña Nieto highlighted one of the key goals of his new presidency with visits to American and Canadian leaders: To strengthen Mexico’s economy through foreign trade and investment.

But even big financial improvements will hardly glaze over the recent bloodshed. Millions of Mexicans remain personally affected by the insecurity, and foreign investors remain wary of the body counts.

Luis Rubio, chairman of the Mexico City-based Center of Research for Development, says it will take more than just a drop in murders to inspire the needed confidence.

“I don’t think it’s an issue of numbers, first of all, it’s an issue of perception,” Rubio says. “People have to be convinced that they will not be more subject to risk that they would in another place.”

Rubio describes the incoming administration as “highly competent,” and believes they have the tools to reduce the destruction of the ongoing drug war and boost the economy.

But he also emphasizes that narcotics are not the root of Mexico’s violence. And this is what needs fixing.

“If drugs didn’t exist, we would still have the same problem, because it would be with any number of things that have nothing to do with the drugs themselves,” Rubio says. “The problem with Mexico is the lack of a modern police force that is respected by the citizenship, and a judicial system that resolves problems swiftly and effectively.”

Official complaints against army and police under Calderon total in the thousands. Corruption is widespread. Previous attempts at police reform have not produced results. Yet, explains Alejandro Hope, director of security for the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, a key pillar of Peña Nieto’s security plan seems to rest on the creation of a new 40,000 strong, police force.

“What has been missing in the attempt to create new police forces are internal and external controls,” Hope says. “Just creating a new police force without tackling that, will probably not produce better results than what you have now.”

American presidents usually have 100 days to prove themselves. Peña Nieto may not even have that.

Massive marches have protested his affiliation to the corrupt history of the PRI – even before he was voted president.

This animosity continues.

Organizers plan to protest — and perhaps even block — his inauguration on Saturday.

Hope says that Peña Nieto will want to quickly prove he represents a positive new era for the party.

“The political pitch is that they are effective, so there will be very, very strong pressures on delivery,” Hope says. “What we are going to see is a government in a hurry. A Government in a hurry is not necessarily a good thing.”

Facing a vocal public opposition, and a minority in congress, it will be tough for the new president and his party to enact rapid change without compromise.

This is not a word historically associated with the PRI. But with voters eager for a less violent, more prosperous Mexico, and critics keeping a close watch, it may be a crucial one for Peña Nieto to get anything done.

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But unlike other local musicians, MC Enfermo doesn’t glorify the bad guys. Instead, he raps about why the drug culture is bad for young people in his community.

Enfermo has watched dozens of his own friends get recruited by the cartels.

One of those friends was killed last year.

He’s tired of people thinking that Culiacán’s young people are just fodder for the drug war.

Enfermo says, “I think they see Culiacán like an AK-47 and we’re the bullets. They think the state is just full of problems and conflicts. But within the same society, people also work honestly, and they sweat to make a buck.”

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Late Sunday, when the official preliminary results came out and Peña Nieto’s victory began to look certain, some of the movement’s founders were gathered in a room at Mexico City’s Iberoamerican University.

Disappointment quickly turned to discussion. The students debated until 4 a.m. They finally decided to attend a large protest march the next day, to say they do not support Peña Nieto. They also decided they will not contest the election results. Instead they will submit some of the election irregularities they’ve documented to officials.

Sandra Patargo has a list of irregularities. She said 3,000 people associated with “Yo Soy 132” worked as observers on Election Day, and they have been feeding this information to her from around the country.

“People in Tierra Caliente, Guerrero, were threatened by La Familia Michoacana, which is a drug cartel,” Patargo said. “A lot of people were beaten, people were buying votes, and this is very common in Mexico.”

The students recognize taking the movement past the elections won’t be easy. The original protest was based at the Iberoamerican University. But it has since expanded to campuses all over Mexico. A wider membership could complicate decision-making about what the goals should be now. But law student Leon Castante said there are a lot of core issues to keep the movement going, even if the students did not succeed in preventing the PRI’s return to power.

“We have a lot of agenda that will not be resolved with the election,” Castante said. “Having a country that is so relevant to the economic map, and being so backwards in media, and so backwards in freedom of speech, its not acceptable, and we will just not step down, at least not for freedom of speech, freedom of media and civil rights in general.”

Castante said he also thinks the movement has changed the political atmosphere of Mexico, no matter who won the presidency.

“People have been sleeping for 35 years. I think that’s what has been most exciting, is seeing people not usually politically active come and say to us ‘what you’re doing is right’,” he said. “I think we’ve changed the playing ground of Mexican politics.”

Back on election night, student Ignacio Martinez’s face fell as the results began to show a PRI victory was inevitable. But even then, he was confident that there is a path forward. He said it is just what the path looks like that needs deciding.

“I don’t know how it is going to look like in a couple of months, a couple of year,” Martinez said. “But what I know is that [the movement] will not cease to protest, and will not cease to make projects, that make sure to wake up the consciousness of people, and to make it clear that the PRI is a party that will damage our country.”

Whether that means the “Yo Soy 132” movement continues as a watchdog, a more formal opposition group or something different remains to be seen. For now the students are staying focused on election results – and demanding a more transparent count.

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“I’m voting for Enrique Peña Nieto because to me he’s a very capable person, and he was effective when he was head of Mexico State,” said Paredes. “He has a very good, formal presence. And he already has the image of a head of state.”

Paredes rejects the criticism that Peña Nieto is just image and no substance, or that he’s a tool in the hands of corrupt party hacks. In fact, he believes Peña Nieto is part of a new generation of young PRI leaders, ready and willing to part with the corruption of the past, and move Mexico forward.

“Look, I think that there will always be corruption, regardless of who’s in power,” said Paredes. “I think corruption is part of Mexican society, and that we, young Mexicans, are trying to change that. And the new PRI… yeah sure, they’re corrupt, and they still have that old PRI base. But I think they can make big economic and social changes. Because society’s not willing to put up with that level of corruption anymore. So I think they have to change their ways, and I think they can do it.”

Should the PRI win the presidential vote, Paredes would like to see Peña Nieto take immediate steps to fix some of the country’s most pressing problems.

“For starters,” said Paredes, “I want an end to the drug war violence, and more economic development. I want jobs that pay more, because the economy right now, in Mexico and at the global level, is very fragile. I want Mexico to remain an economically stable country, where there isn’t so much drug trafficking.”

“There will always be violence,” Paredes added, “because you have to fight the cartels. But I want a country where drug trafficking isn’t such a big business. So I hope that when Peña Nieto gets to the presidential palace, he says to the narcos and organized crime, ‘You know what? I’m here, and all this is going to change. You’re not going to be able to keep going with impunity in this country!’ That’s what I would want him to do.”

And finally, Paredes thinks Peña Nieto is the candidate best able to deliver on his promises – because his party, the PRI, is strong in Congress. He says Peña Nieto’s main opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is not in the same position.

“I just don’t think Lopez Obrador can turn his proposals into reality, so with him it would be just another six years of promising change and not achieving anything,” said Paredes. “I think Peña Nieto, with all the support he has in congress and the senate, he will come through with the changes and reforms that the country needs.”

Danilo Paredes just hopes Enrique Peña Nieto can hold his lead in the polls until election day.

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The vote could mark the return to power of the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI. It ran Mexico with an authoritarian hand from 1929 to 2000.

The PRI is still powerful, and its candidate Enrique Peña Nieto is leading in the polls. His main opponent is the populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

This is his second attempt to win the presidency, after a very narrow and controversial loss six years ago.

Running third is Josefina Vazquez Mota of the ruling National Action Party — or PAN. She’s hoping to become Mexico’s first woman president.

Olga Velazquez Villa is 23, and from the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, but now lives in Mexico City and works in telecommunications.

She comes from a family that supported the PAN long before the party ended seven decades of PRI rule with Vicente Fox’s victory in 2000.

She says she likes what the PAN and Vazquez Mota stand for.

“First of all, the party’s values, which are humanist, democratic, and Christian,” Velazquez said. “I agree with those principles. With regards to Josefina, I like her proposals on how to improve education and security. On education, she plans to open 150 universities. I agree with that, because what Mexico needs to advance IS education: people who are well prepared, and who demand that our candidate keep the promises that he or she makes.”

Velazquez wants a president willing to take on the PRI dominated teacher’s unions – to put an end to teachers who don’t show up to work and to improve standards. She believes Vazquez Mota would do that.

And as far as security is concerned, Velazquez wants continuity. She admits that President Felipe Calderon’s war on drugs hasn’t been perfect. But she wants to stick with the PAN strategy.

“I think it was good to take on the drug traffickers, because, well, the previous party, the PRI, just negotiated with the narcos,” she said. “I’m from Torreon, where there’s a lot of violence, and yeah, I know how they kill innocent people. So why negotiate with people that keep attacking you and threatening your security? Better to take them head on, and yeah, fight. Maybe things have gotten out of control, and out of Felipe Calderon’s hands, but I think it was the right move to confront the narcos, and stop negotiating.”

Velazquez also thinks Josefina Vazquez Mota could build on Calderon’s strategy, by improving anti-drug cooperation with the United States. She doesn’t trust the other candidates to make the right choices in this fight.

“I’m scared by the thought of Peña Nieto getting the presidency. And I just don’t know about Lopez Obrador. We don’t know what either would do if they controlled the country. Would they fulfill their promises, or would they turn out like Chavez, or something. Honestly, I worry if either of those two win,” she said.

Many analysts think the winner will be determined by how young Mexicans vote, and which party does a better job convincing people who would normally not vote to turn out on election day.

Velazquez sees both these groups in her daily life.

“Well, most of my friends will vote, mostly for the PAN. But at work, the majority don’t support a party, they’re not interested in politics, it just doesn’t matter to them who governs – it’s all the same,” Velazquez said.

Olga Velazquez does care. And she doesn’t trust the polls – which show her candidate in third place. She envisions a victory for Josefina Vazquez Mota on July 1st.

The main issues are the rampant violence associated with the drug war, and whether the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) returns to power.

The PRI ruled Mexico from 1929 to 2000, before being ousted by the current ruling National Action Party (PAN).

One Mexican voter, Juan Pablo Arango Orozco, thinks the PRI and the PAN have had their chances and failed.

He says it’s time to give Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) an opportunity to give Mexico something new.

Arango is 33, lives in Mexico City, and works as a freelance government consultant. He falls into the large chunk of ‘middle of the road’ left-leaning voters who believe Mexico needs something new.

“I plan to vote for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador,” said Arango. “Given the current political context, I think he’s the only candidate who offers a real alternative to the long list of failures we’ve had before, both when the PRI was in power and then later, with the PAN.”

That’s why Arango believes it’s time to give the PRD a chance in the presidential palace.

“The PRI already had its chance,” said Arango. “And the PAN has had the last 12 years. So, it would be fair that the PRD gets an opportunity, and that Mexicans can see what this option really represents.”

Arango is upset about the violence that’s soared under president Felipe Calderón, and hopes his party, the PAN, doesn’t return to power. But he claims he’s more worried about the PRI returning to power.

“It scares me more to think of Enrique Peña Nieto in power, because of the connections they say the PRI has with drug trafficking groups.” Said Arango. “Not to mention their history of repression against groups that oppose the PRI. We’re talking about reduced freedom of expression. And that’s really frightening.”

Arango also thinks Peña Nieto is inexperienced and manipulated by corrupt PRI hierarchy. And even though Peña Nieto is leading in the polls, Arango thinks Lopez Obrador can close the gap before July 1st.

But he thinks Peña Nieto will end up winning, because the deck is stacked against Lopez Obrador.

“They don’t want him,” Arango said about Mexico’s political elite. “He’s like a Lex Luther for them, an evil character. Actually, I call him ‘Andrex Manuel Luthor,’ because he’s like enemy number one. Maybe that’s because he stands for change and shaking up our policies.”

Still, Juan Pablo Arango Orozco hopes Lopez Obrador gets his chance.

“He wants to redistribute all the wealth that we have in Mexico,” said Arango. “And I do think that Mexico is rich country.”

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'Yo Soy 132' Protest in Mexico City (Photo: Myles Estey)

Mexico’s presidential election is on July 1. And if the polls are right, the vote will mark a comeback for the party that dominated Mexican politics for more than 70 years.

The front-runner is Enrique Peña Nieto, the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known by its initials in Spanish as the PRI.

Opposition to Peña Nieto’s campaign has inspired a student protest movement that some have dubbed “the Mexican Spring.” It’s called “Yo Soy 132” or “I am 132.”

The movement was named that to express support for 131 university students who were vilified for speaking out against the leading candidate.

The movement held a big rally in downtown Mexico City, drawing a crowd of about 90,000 people.

From talking to the protesters, you’d think the PRI was the current ruling party in Mexico.

“We urgently want a change,” says marcher José Eduardo Saragoza. “That’s why we’re here.”

In fact, the PRI has been out of Mexico’s presidential palace for the past 12 years. But its seven decade rule, from 1929 to 2000, is still resented by many Mexicans. And at the local level, the PRI is still in power in many Mexican states.

So when Peña Nieto promises to be a different kind of PRI president, there’s a lot of scepticism.
“Despite what they say about this being a new PRI, with a new face, for us it’s still the same PRI. The same PRI of repression, lies and authoritarianism,” says organizer Saul Alvidrez. “It’s a PRI that members of this movement aren’t ready to accept.”

The 132 protesters are also critical of Mexico’s two major TV stations, which they accuse of favoring PRI candidates and manipulating the political environment.

The issue heated up recently, after an article by The Guardian newspaper in Britain presented documents alleging Peña Nieto had in the past paid for positive TV coverage.

For marchers like José Eduardo Saragoza, this type of collusion emblemizes the corruption built into the PRI.

“We don’t want a candidate created by the TV stations,” says Saragoza. “We want a real democracy, one where the media itself is democratic, and tells the truth.”

After the protest in Mexico City, a “Yo Soy 132” crowd watched the second and final presidential candidates’ debate on a big screen in the the city’s central plaza, the Zócalo.

“We don’t want you,” they jeered as Peña Nieto made his opening remarks. But Peña Nieto held his own in a debate with few hard questions.

Despite the protests against him, the PRI candidate still enjoys a sizeable lead over leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He lost the 2006 race by the narrowest of margins, something he wishes not to repeat.

“Yo Soy 132” movement organziers know they have an uphill battle, with so little time before the vote on July 1. But they’re determined to keep going.

Increasingly, the military has been called upon to keep order in the most dangerous locations. Recently, violence swept the touristy state of Veracruz.

And the area surrounding Acapulco has become one of the most murderous in the country, adding to the woes of the traditionally violent state of Guerrero.

The Mexican government has responded by launching military operations in both states.

While the army retains a fairly positive image in Mexico, it also stands accused thousands of human rights violations.

In the state of Guerrero, a few hours inland from Acapulco, one of these cases has torn six families apart.

It’s late afternoon as Laura Garcia Orozco arrives at a nightclub in the town of Iguala. Her brother, Francis Alejandro Garcia Orozco, used to run this club.

But on a Monday night in March last year, she arrived here, just as a military convoy was pulling away. She hasn’t seen her brother since.

“It’s incredibly sad to be in this place, to remember the disappearance, to remember his face, the last time he looked at me that day,” Orozco said. “It’s horrible, horrible. The only thing I want is that, in one way or another – that they bring him back.”

Francis — and five other men who worked there — disappeared from the club that night. According to checks done by the families, none had criminal records, nor were they under any official investigation.

After the men went missing, all six families say they went straight to military base 27 in Iguala. “Our sons have gone missing, they demanded,” “where are they?”

The soldier allegedly replied, “no tenemos los del disco” – “we don’t have those guys from the club.” The families looked at each other. They hadn’t said anything about the club.

35-year old Laura sits at her computer, reviewing footage taken that night by a security camera across from the club. The video appears to show the missing men as they’re taken from the club by a convoy that includes soldiers in military vehicles.

“The families say the army originally admitted it had an operation there that night — then backtracked,” Orozco said. “Later, military officials told the families they’d launched an investigation. The families say they’ve yet to see any proof of that.”

Difficult to Prove

Most disappearance cases rely on hearsay, and are difficult to prove. This case stands out because there’s some formal evidence. But Laura’s older sister Rosario says it hasn’t helped.

“We’ve asked everyone,” Rosario Garcia Orozco said. “The federal prosecutor’s office, the defense department, the national human rights commission – all say they have no idea or that they are unable to help.”

In the last five years, more than 6,000 official complaints of human rights abuses have been filed against Mexico’s security forces. But according to Nik Steinberg, Mexico investigator for the group Human Rights Watch, convictions are rare.

“No matter whether the case is investigated in the military justice system, or the civilian justice system, there is almost never a solider or police officer held accountable for these crimes,” Steinberg said. “So no matter how much evidence there is, and how clear it is that security forces have perpetrated these horrific abuses, they’re never held to book.”

A Human Rights Watch report released this month says Mexico’s security forces enjoy ‘total immunity’ from a legal system that stops short of challenging military jurisdiction. Steniberg argues these injustices violate some key conditions governing US financial support for Mexico’s drug war.

“One of them, for example is that all soldiers, who commit human rights abuses, must be prosecuted in a civilian court, because the military justice system in Mexico has proven to be completely biased, and unable to punish soldiers who commit abuses,” Steinberg said. “Mexico, year after year, has failed to meet these conditions, and year after year the United States has given them these conditional funds anyways.”

On Patrol in Guerrero

This patrol is part of a new security operation in the state of Guerrero, where the six men from Iguala disappeared.

State Spokesman Arturo Martinez Nunez says an additional 2,000 soldiers and federal police have been deployed in the last few weeks to improve safety in Guerrero. And he says respecting people’s rights is a top priority.

“The Mexican Army is extremely attentive and respectful of the human rights of the local population,” Nunez said. “The proof of that is that during this operation we have not had a single complaint. If there was one, we would be the first to address it, because we need the people on our side.”

Back in Iguala, the Garcia Orozco family doesn’t feel entirely safe. They say they’ve been followed, intimidated, threatened and repeatedly told to stop pursuing the case of their son and brother. Four of the other five families involved have already given up.

But Rosario, echoing the rest of her family, says that for the sake of her brother and the other missing men, they will not stop, despite the risks.

“You know what, a lot of people are scared – I am also scared,” Rosario Garcia Orozco said. “But it makes me more scared to think that tomorrow it would be my kids, or my grandkids, that they take away, if I don’t open my mouth and say “today, this is happening, this is a reality, and that this is how they are hurting many families.”