In Far Rockaway, New York, Antonio Tizapa runs marathon to raise awareness for Ayotzinapa (6/19/2016)

Antonio Tizapa, a marathon runner and resident of New York, is also the father of one of the 43 disappeared. He took part in a marathon this weekend to call attention to the brutal case of repression in México: the Ayotzinapa disappearance. Mr.Tizapa has good reason to believe his son remains disappeared and not dead, as the Mexican government claims. Despite the fact that the investigation was marked by both procedural errors and a fundamental disregard for evidence like the emitting of a GPS signal of student cellphones in an Iguala military base, the US government tacitly recognized that the Mexican government was complying with an international mandate to investigate the whereabouts of the students through favorable statements made to that end by US ambassador, Samantha Power, who was also once a Clinton surrogate of the State Department. Finally, in the early hours of the September 27, 2014, Antonio Tizapa's son's cellphone was used to send a text to his mother after the phone was supposedly burned.

Mr.Tizapa continues to demand publicly that the Mexican government return his son. Antonio Tizapa Legideño was forcibly disappeared by the Mexican government on September 26, 2014. Photo: Silvia Garcia

La Cartita --- The first half of Enrique Peña Nieto's tenure has been marked by a huge spike in kidnappings, femicides, disappearances made through official government entities, and petty crime. This has led to a climate of repression, stagnant growth due to investor fear and capital flight, and international condemnation from global civil societies. This latter element, a consequence of increased awareness, has been largely due to the families of victims speaking out throughout the world. One of the more prominent voices is that of Mr. Tizapa's, not for want of attention, but because his tragedy is compounded by another: forced migration. México, despite its vast riches, has one of the highest inequality indices in the world, minting more billionaires - one of whom, Carlos Slim, who was handed the Telecom Industry directly - than anywhere else in the continent. Ironically, most of these 'Mexican' billionaires are not actually Mexican; Slim is Lebanese and knows little about the average needs of México's mainly indigenous population (if not self-identifying, surely, genetically we are).

México is undergoing one of the human rights worst crisis in the continent. Criminality, official corruption and a huge push for privatization have led to the mass scale marginalization of Mexicans. Everything sacred to the Mexican people, education, land and oil has steadily been transferred to private control. After a decades long effort to fake a democracy through the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN), a far right-wing political party best known for its most prominent anti-drug trafficker demagogue, Felipe Calderon, the old ruling party, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) has regained control of the country.

Mr. Tizapa has continued the fight to find his son in many places: the United Nations, the Inter American Court of Human Rights, but where he has the most success is out on the winners circle for different marathons in the East Coast. Just a few weeks ago he participated in the Grand Shepperd 5k, placing 1st in his age group. This weekend he participated in the Far Rockaway marathon alongside Amado Tlatempa, whose cousin is among the disappeared too. These two individuals will never stop until the whereabouts of the students are made clear. Public pressure has mounted against US institutions, including the outgoing US ambassador, Samantha Power. Repression has increased greatly due to continued US support for the Mexican military and federal police. In fact, many of the students attest seeing the military present during the September 26, 2015 attack.