海角大神

The number 43 is cropping up across Mexico City these days: Written large on banners near Revolution Plaza and scribbled small on posters advertising office space for rent. In a public park, one wall bears the graffiti message: 鈥淚t hurts 43 times.鈥�

The signs all refer to the mass kidnapping聽in September聽of 43 students from a teachers college in the southern state of Guerrero. It is not the biggest or bloodiest crime in Mexico鈥檚 recent history, but it has struck a national nerve. It has exposed alleged connections between local officials, police, and organized crime. And many here hope it can be a turning point for Mexico, which has struggled to address the corruption and impunity that grip the nation, even as President Enrique Pe帽a Nieto tries to highlight its economic promise.听

Since he took office, the international conversation about Mexico has changed markedly. From the start, Mr. Pe帽a Nieto rallied politicians from rival parties to join a 鈥淧act for Mexico,鈥� enabling passage of landmark reforms including energy, education, and telecommunications. Homicides have fallen by 29 percent since 2012 according to government statistics, and after six years of headlines focused on beheadings and mass graves, suddenly the international media were heralding 鈥淢exico鈥檚 Moment鈥� for development and economic growth.

But the students鈥� abduction in Iguala, about 120 miles south of Mexico City, after a run-in with local police has drawn back the curtain once again, exposing the continuing grip of corruption and insecurity. Politicians have started talking about the need for a renewed 鈥淧act for Mexico鈥� that focuses on security, and聽protests have taken place nationally over the past month. The demonstrations are bigger, broader-based, and more enduring than Mexico has seen in recent years, says Lorenzo Meyer, a political analyst at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.听

There鈥檚 almost a sense of hope that this could lead to a real shift, says Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, who chairs the government department at the University of Texas Brownsville and focuses on organized crime. 鈥淐ould it actually be that this is Mexico鈥檚 moment?鈥�

'The hope of Latin America'

On Wednesday, tens of thousands of protesters marched down Reforma, Mexico City鈥檚 main boulevard, banging empty plastic jugs, counting from 1 to 43 in unison, and chanting calls and responses, including one led by students asking, 鈥渨hy do you assault us? We鈥檙e the hope of Latin America.鈥�

What is emerging, argues John Ackerman, a law professor聽at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, is聽an 鈥渆xplosive synthesis鈥� of three previous social movements that were each "important but were left only partially resolved and still bubbling under the surface.鈥� Victims of the drug war, a student movement that emerged during the 2012 presidential election, and opponents of Pe帽a Nieto鈥檚 energy and education reforms have together rallied behind the mass disappearance. It is a 鈥渢rue bottom-up affair,鈥� he says, that could 鈥渓ead to long term social and political change.鈥�

The missing students were stopped by police on the night of Sept. 26, and allegedly handed off to the criminal group, Guerreros Unidos. The mayor of Iguala and his wife 鈥� who the attorney general says ordered the abduction 鈥� were detained by federal officers Tuesday after weeks as fugitives.

Pe帽a Nieto has been criticized for his slow response to the case. Politicians are bickering over who should take the fall for the thriving links between crime and government that the kidnapping exposes: The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), or the left-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), to which the local mayor and governor belonged. Given that public security in Guerrero has been under federal control for years, says Mr. Ackerman, 鈥渋t鈥檚 impossible for the federal government to avoid being called to account."

But some politicians are pressing for their peers to move beyond finger-pointing, with one congressman from the conservative National Action Party (PAN), Jos茅 Gonz谩lez Morf铆n, writing in El Universal this week that politicians and society need to .听

There鈥檚 no room for haggling. If we really want to live in peace and liberty, if we want to erase injustice, and if we want to progress toward a more secure reality, its time to call everyone out of the trenches to fight for justice.

Mexico 'can handle a lot'

Back at the protest on Reforma Wednesday, a woman carries a sign that simply reads, 鈥淏ecause I have children.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e tried to tell my kids in language they will understand that we鈥檙e living in a country where the government can be repressive,鈥� says Marie Elena Ibarra, a mother of three. 鈥淵ou have to be careful. The authorities who are supposed to protect you 鈥� they can hurt you.鈥�

Nearby, three young men hover over poster board, writing out their slogans for the night.听Classes across the country have been suspended for between 24 and 72 hours this week, due to protests.听

Emilio Guerrero, who studies science at the University of the City, says he's protesting for justice, and because he often feels targeted as a student: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be afraid to go out; to study. But oftentimes I am.鈥澛�

Mr. Meyer says he sees "so much energy" coming out of the protests. But he is not optimistic. 鈥淚 fear that there isn鈥檛 the structure or the institutions needed to fix these problems," he says. "There鈥檚 no clear path to seek change in the political class.鈥�

Others share his skepticism. As demonstrators marched toward the city center聽on Wednesday, Roberto Morales, a trash collector from the state of Mexico, sat on a bench munching potato chips. He and his colleagues talk about the missing students frequently 鈥� he has four children around the same age, so it's been on his mind 颅鈥� but the politicians are corrupt and they stick together, he says. 鈥淢y commentary won鈥檛 change anything.鈥�

No matter one's stance on the probability of change, if Mexico returns to business as usual, it would be "disastrous," says Ackerman, the law professor. It would mean the implicit approval "of the most extreme form of impunity, which would send a message that absolutely anything goes."聽

鈥淢exican society has proven it can handle a lot; it鈥檚 resilient,鈥� says Ms. Correa-Cabrera. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the recent violence, but decades of one-party rule. Several of the events that took place over the past eight years, I would have thought that that was enough,鈥� she says.

鈥淏ut, when is enough enough?鈥�