On Monday morning, Mexican officials announced Alan Pulido had been found a day after being kidnapped from a party in Tamaulipas on Saturday. While details of what happened are still emerging – originally, officials said Pulido called for help, but later reports say he overpowered his captors and escaped – the incident has only reinforced the distrust people feel for the government.
As Sunday’s election in Tamaulipas approaches, some were quick to see the correlation between politics and the speedy rescue. Pulido stands accused of being complicit in a scheme meant to paint the government in a positive light just before Mexicans take to the polls.
On the other side, Frank Lozano wrote in Milenio that he finds it unlikely that Pulido teamed up with the government. “People, tired of seeing their daily lives ruined by lack of security and the fallacy of justice, have ended up buying into a conspiracy for a case, which likely, happened just as Tamaulipas’ prosecutor said it did.” And whether or not Lozano is correct, his op-ed piece did touch on one undeniable fact: People are fed up.
Pulido’s rescue came about a day after his kidnapping, but almost two years later, the parents of the missing students from La Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos remain in the dark about what really happened to their children. Pulido’s release is just a painful reminder that for the Mexican government, some lives aren’t valued in the same regard.
AJ+ put together a video that highlights how outraged people feel that the government has prioritized Pulido but not the missing 43. Check it out below: