Mexico president sees anti-government motive in massacre protests
Mexico''''s President Enrique Pena Nieto delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the exhibition "Mayas: The Language of Beauty" at the National Museum of China in Beijing on November 13, 2014. (AFP)
Grappling with outrage over violence and impunity after the apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto accused unspecified groups of seeking to destabilize his government.
Protest marches over the crime, which the government has blamed on corrupt police in league with a drug gang and city officials, have overshadowed Peña Nieto's efforts to boost years of sub-par economic growth via a raft of economic reforms.
The trainee teachers were abducted in late September by corrupt police working with a drug gang, and their remains were apparently incinerated.
Protests have yielded sporadic violence, with demonstrators setting fire to the doors of Peña Nieto's ceremonial palace in central Mexico City, as well as torching or trashing regional government buildings and political party offices.
"Structural reforms and big changes have ... without doubt affected interests of those who have much and of others who oppose our nation-building project," Peña Nieto said.
"We have seen violent movements which hide behind the grief (over the missing students) to stage protests, the aim of which at times is unclear," he added. "They seem to obey interests to generate instability, to foment social unrest."
Peña Nieto is also on the back foot after the government angered China by revoking a $3.75 billion high-speed train contract after opposition lawmakers claimed it was a stitch-up.
Compounding matters, it emerged that a Mexican group in the winning Chinese-led consortium owned a $7 million house that Peña Nieto's wife was in the process of acquiring, raising questions about a possible conflict of interest in the bidding process.
Questions remain over the house. The government has not said how much first lady Angelica Rivera paid for it, nor why she was transferring funds directly to the firm that owned it.
As he set foot back in Mexico late on Saturday after a state visit to China, Peña Nieto was forced to address the house, saying he would clear up "imprecise and baseless assertions" on it. The government has yet do so.
Peña Nieto said he had asked his wife to publicly explain how she came to acquire the property.
Protest marches over the crime, which the government has blamed on corrupt police in league with a drug gang and city officials, have overshadowed Peña Nieto's efforts to boost years of sub-par economic growth via a raft of economic reforms.
The trainee teachers were abducted in late September by corrupt police working with a drug gang, and their remains were apparently incinerated.
Protests have yielded sporadic violence, with demonstrators setting fire to the doors of Peña Nieto's ceremonial palace in central Mexico City, as well as torching or trashing regional government buildings and political party offices.
"Structural reforms and big changes have ... without doubt affected interests of those who have much and of others who oppose our nation-building project," Peña Nieto said.
"We have seen violent movements which hide behind the grief (over the missing students) to stage protests, the aim of which at times is unclear," he added. "They seem to obey interests to generate instability, to foment social unrest."
Peña Nieto is also on the back foot after the government angered China by revoking a $3.75 billion high-speed train contract after opposition lawmakers claimed it was a stitch-up.
Compounding matters, it emerged that a Mexican group in the winning Chinese-led consortium owned a $7 million house that Peña Nieto's wife was in the process of acquiring, raising questions about a possible conflict of interest in the bidding process.
Questions remain over the house. The government has not said how much first lady Angelica Rivera paid for it, nor why she was transferring funds directly to the firm that owned it.
As he set foot back in Mexico late on Saturday after a state visit to China, Peña Nieto was forced to address the house, saying he would clear up "imprecise and baseless assertions" on it. The government has yet do so.
Peña Nieto said he had asked his wife to publicly explain how she came to acquire the property.
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