The University of Guadalajara is once again in mourning, this time after one of its brightest students died Monday during a mugging in Colonia Vicente Guerrero.
Jorge Alberto Perez, 23, was assaulted around 6:30 a.m. while on his way to work less than half a kilometer from his house.
A scuffle broke out after two men descended from a white car and tried to steal Perez’s cellphone. The young man was shot twice in the abdomen before the assailants drove off. According to police reports, Perez was still alive when he was taken to the nearby Green Cross clinic but died a short time later.
Perez was in the final year of his studies in industrial engineering at the UdG’s CUCEI campus. He worked in the mornings before heading to classes and was the chief breadwinner in his family.
Jesus Medina Varela, president of the Federation of University Students (FEU), said the university community was angry (encabronada) and hurt. “It is unacceptable that our lives are valued the same as a cellphone, a wallet or a pair of shoes,” he said.
Medina said the state and metro-area municipal governments were not keeping their end of the bargain to improve security for university students following a recommendation issued by the Jalisco Human Rights Commission in March.
Students are planning to hold a march in honor of Perez and to protest the security situation in the next few days.
Perez’s family have asked if their relative can receive a posthumous degree and be included in his class graduation ceremony.