Photography

Mexico’s Days of Rage

Gripping photos of the protests sweeping a nation.

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On Sept. 26, a bus caravan carrying students from a teachers’ college in Mexico’s Guerrero state was traveling to nearby Iguala for a protest about the lack of funding from their school when they were stopped by police as well as a group of gunmen believed to belong to a local drug cartel. Six people were shot to death on the spot, and 43 other were abducted. They have not been seen since.

Last week, three drug gang henchmen confessed to incinerating the bodies of the students and dumping their charcoaled remains in a river. Mexican authorities have arrested the mayor of the city of Iguala, José Luis Abarca; his wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda; and an aide and charged them with masterminding the attack.

The incident is one of the most grisly and shocking in Mexico’s bloody eight-year drug war and has prompted comparisons to the massacre of student demonstrators in Mexico City in 1968. Massive protests have broken out throughout the country in the most serious crisis faced by Mexico’s government in years.

Read more on the missing students and the protests in Mexico.

mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
Protesters clash with riot police over the 43 missing students in Mexico City on Nov. 20, 2014.

Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images
mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
Police officers escort a march over the presumed massacre of 43 students, in Mexico City on Nov. 20, 2014. 

Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images
mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
Demonstrators in Ciudad Juarez walk past hand imprints during a protest over the missing Ayotzinapa students, Nov. 20, 2014.

Photo by Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
Riot police capture protesters during a demonstration against Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and his government. Nov. 20, 2014 in Mexico City.

Photo by Miguel Tovar/LatinContent/Getty Images
mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
People demonstrate in Mexico City, on Nov. 20, 2014.

 

 

Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images

 

 
mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
Protester in Mexico City, Nov. 20, 2014.

Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images
mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
Demonstrators look at a burning effigy of President Enrique Peña Nieto. Mexico City, Nov. 20, 2014.

Photo by Bernardo Montoya/Reuters
mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
Thousands of people attend a demonstration against President Peña Nieto and his government. Nov. 20, 2014 in Mexico City.

Photo by Miguel Tovar/LatinContent/Getty Images
mexico protests ayotzinapa missing students.
A woman holds a candle with a photograph of one of the missing students during a protest at the Angel de la Independencia monument in Mexico City, Nov. 17, 2014.

Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters
People take part in a march in Mexico City demanding justice for the 43 missing students on October 22.
People take part in a march in Mexico City demanding justice for the 43 missing students on Oct. 22, 2014. 

Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators in Mexico City attend the third massive protest related to the case on November 5. Several universities in the country called a strike for 72 hours.
Demonstrators in Mexico City attend the third massive protest related to the case on Nov. 5, 2014. Several universities in the country called a strike for 72 hours.  

Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Parents of the 43 missing students attend the third protest on November 5, 2014 in Mexico City.
Parents of the 43 missing students attend the third protest on Nov. 5, 2014, in Mexico City.

Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Students block access to the Mexican attorney general’s office on November 06, 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Students block access to the Mexican attorney general’s office on Nov. 6, 2014, in Mexico City. 

Photo by Miguel Tovar/LatinContent/Getty Images
Demonstrators hold a sign with the face of one of the missing students during a spontaneous demonstration on November 8.
Demonstrators hold a sign with the face of one of the missing students during a spontaneous demonstration on Nov. 8, 2014. 

Photo by Miguel Tovar/LatinContent/Getty Images
A demonstrator holds a picture of an unidentified dead person during a protest in support of the missing Ayotzinapa students in Mexico City’s Zocalo Square on Nov. 8
A demonstrator holds a picture of Julio César Mondragón, one of the missing Ayotzinapa students during a protest in Mexico City’s Zocalo Square on Nov. 8, 2014. *

Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters
Students, farmworkers and other demonstrators confront the riot police during a protest near Acapulco in Guerrero state.
Students, farmworkers, and other demonstrators confront riot police during a protest near Acapulco in Guerrero state on Nov. 10, 2014. Protesters threw stones and a fire bomb at riot police, injuring 11 officers. Around 300 students, some wearing masks and armed with sticks and machetes, were joined by some parents of the 43 missing young men as they marched toward the city’s airport, but police blocked their way. 

Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images
parents of the 43 missing young men as they marched toward the city's airport,
In the Nov. 10, 2014, Acapulco protest, around 300 students, some wearing masks and armed with sticks and machetes, were joined by some parents of the 43 missing young men as they marched toward the city’s airport, but police blocked their way.

Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators try to knock down the door of Mexico's Government Palace during a demonstration on November 8 in Mexico City.
Demonstrators try to knock down the door of Mexico’s Government Palace during a demonstration on Nov. 8, 2014, in Mexico City.

Photo by Miguel Tovar/LatinContent/Getty Images
protesters outside the palace in the historic center of Mexico City.
Protesters argue with a member of security outside the palace on Nov. 8, 2014.

Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters
Protesters argue with a member of security outside the palace on Nov. 8.
A group of protesters set fire to the presidential palace’s wooden door on Nov. 8, 2014.

Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters
A group of protesters set fire to presidential palace’s wooden door on Nov. 8.
Protesters stand amid smoke outside the palace on Nov. 8, 2014. 

Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters
Protesters stand amidst smoke outside the palace on Nov. 8.
Protesters stand amid smoke outside the palace on Nov. 8, 2014.

Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters
The main hall of the Guerrero state congress is set on fire by protesters in Chilpancingo, Mexico on November 12, 2014.
The main hall of the Guerrero state congress is set on fire by protesters in Chilpancingo, Mexico, on Nov. 12, 2014.

Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images
A masked protester sits on a sidewalk holding a candle after the Nov. 8 protest. The sign reads "Ayotzinapa, state terrorism".
A masked protester sits on a sidewalk holding a candle after the Nov. 8, 2014, protest. The sign reads: “Ayotzinapa, state terrorism.” 

Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters

* Update, Nov. 18, 2014: The photo caption of missing student Julio César Mondragón has been updated to include his name. He was previously unidentified.