Students at the public Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG) cannot be accused of being apathetic.
Two marches on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week drew thousands of students angered at the ceaseless violence directed toward young people, as well as the chaotic condition of public transport in the metropolitan area.
The marches were organized in response to the deaths of Bárbara Daniela Guerrero, an International Relations student who was run over by an errant city bus driver on Monday, October 8 while cycling near the university’s CUCSH campus, and Angélica María Saldívar, a law student, also at CUCSH, who was killed during an armed mugging outside her house in Colonia San Vicente on the same day. Both students were in the final semesters of their respective courses.
Tuesday’s protest attracted around 1,000 students who marched to the offices of Jalisco Transportation Department (Semov), where they linked arms to form a human chain around the building. A series of demands were read out, including “justice and compensation” for Barbara Guerrero and the complete reorganization of the pedestrian and bus infrastructure situated around the busy CUCSH campus located next to La Normal Glorieta, near where Guerrero was killed. Among the specific demands were the installation of pedestrian crosswalk lights, speed bumps and improved areas for buses to stop, as well as the presence of Transito officers in the zone throughout the day.
Semov Director Servando Sepúlveda agreed to attend to the requests immediately and also withdrew the concession for bus route 275-F, whose unit was responsible for Guerrero’s death. Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval weighed in, promising to “fix” the transportation issues at the CUCSH campus within 15 days.
The following day, around 10,000 students and teachers downed tools and left their classes to march along major thoroughfares to the Government Palace in support of both Guerrero and Saldívar. Dressed mostly in white, the contingent held a noisy meeting in the Plaza Liberation, after which student leaders handed in a petition to Sandoval, calling for the immediate implementation of policies to improve security for students in the metro area.
During the speeches, Jesús Medina, president of the Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios (FEU) student union, pointed out that eight UdG students have been killed in the past two years, in addition to 800 reported assaults and violent incidents. He said efforts by the state government and the Guadalajara municipality to solve security problems have been “improvised.”
Students also met with recently installed Guadalajara Mayor Ismael del Toro, who immediately commissioned a working committee to examine students’ complaints and find solutions.