Medical students from several universities held a march in Mexico City’s historic center on Monday morning to demand justice for the murders of a doctor and medical students that recently took place in the capital and the state of Puebla.
Hailing primarily from the National Autonomous University (UNAM) and the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), the protesters marched in white coats with black ribbons tied around their left arms.
They marched in memory of three medical students who were murdered along with their Uber driver on Sunday, February 23 while returning to Puebla city from the Carnival of Huejotzingo.
Two of the victims — José Antonio Parada Cerpa, 22, and Ximena Quijano Hernández, 25 — were foreign exchange students from Colombia. Francisco Javier Tirado Márquez, 22, was a Mexican student, and Josué Emanuel Vital, 28, was the driver.
Gathering by the hundreds, the demonstrators also demanded justice for Mayte Viridiana Aguilar Martínez, a doctor who was murdered in an Uber by two men aboard motorcycles on February 12 in the Mexico City borough of Tláhuac.
The demonstrators met around 6:00 a.m. in front of the Palace of Fine Arts and slowly made their way to the zócalo along 5 de Mayo street. They chanted and held up signs outside the National Palace after taking almost two hours to make the six-block trek.
Sources: Sin Embargo (sp), La Jornada (sp)
