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"We were unarmed": who are the missing students in Mexico?
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Dec 1, 2014
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"We were unarmed": who are the missing students in Mexico?
The case of the missing 43 students in Mexico has brought to the front long-simmering tension throughout the country about a breakdown in law and order.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - NOVEMBER 20:  Demonstrators from Guerrero State demand answers concerning 43 missing students during a march November 20, 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico. The students from the Atyotzinapa teaching college near Chilpancingo in Guerrero have been missing since September 26. November 20 marks Mexico's National Day celebrating the Mexican Revolution. (Photo by Brett Gundlock/Getty Images)
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - NOVEMBER 20: Demonstrators from Guerrero State demand answers concerning 43 missing students during a march November 20, 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico. The students from the Atyotzinapa teaching college near Chilpancingo in Guerrero have been missing since September 26. November 20 marks Mexico's National Day celebrating the Mexican Revolution. (Photo by Brett Gundlock/Getty Images)
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Brett Gundlock/Getty Images
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The case of the missing 43 students in Mexico has brought to the front long-simmering tension throughout the country about a breakdown in law and order.

On the program, we've been covering the case of 43 missing students in Mexico who disappeared in the state of Guerrero in September. Since then, criticism of how the government has handled the case has prompted widespread protests throughout the country.

"Because they were taken alive, we want them back alive," parents and supporters have chanted at rallies, demanding action from authorities.

Last week, President Enrique Peña Nieto proposed what he calls a ten-point plan to focus on corruption and state control of local police, calling what happened in Iguala "a tragedy."

A 3-part video series from VICE takes a close look at the students and the families at the center of the case.

Journalist Daniel Hernández reported the story. He told Take Two that the case has brought to the front long-simmering tension throughout the country about a breakdown in law and order.

"Right now in Mexico if someone wants you dead or disappeared, it will happen and no one will come get you and no one will find you," said Hernández. "That is really a horrifying thought to live with in the day to day."



Watch the first part in the video series from VICE News: The Missing 43: Mexico's Disappeared Students (Part 1)