Mexico City - On Monday, April 19, student activist Noel Pável González did not return to his house. By Friday a missing person’s report had been filed and by Saturday, his parents were notified that Pável’s body had been found in a remote area of the Ajusco mountains. While the body had been hung to give the illusion of a suicide, Pável had suffered severe physical abuse, including torture, rape and eventually the shattering of his skull.
Pável was an accomplished student and organizer, who was studying Latin American Studiies and Social Anthropology at the UNAM. As a volunteer with “Resistencia Hacia Nuevo Amanecer” and his cooperative, Smaliyel, in solidarity with zapatista organic coffee growers, he worked tirelessly on issues of free trade and student autonomy within the University. Family, friends and Mexican citizens are demanding an investigation by the Attorney General of the Republic into his brutal murder, which has sent a clear message to activists locally that organizing will not be tolerated. In the wake of Pável’s assassination, the EZLN has sent out an electronic denouncement to compañeros all over Mexico, stating:
”...While the dirty war follows its course in Mexico, the government of this country is pronounced against Cuba, in the name of ‘human rights’. While it signs Free Trade Agreements, they continue to find women assassinated in Juarez. While it gives the organic coffee of Chiapas to the Starbuck multinational, Pável, activist of the cooperative of zapatista coffees, Smaliyel, is assassinated.... “
On Thursday, April 29, hundreds marched to the Ministry of the Interior to demand transparent information about the campaign of death and brutality against more and more student activists, including beatings by undercover government agents.
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