** Updated with reports from the PGR and UNAM **
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) awoke early Thursday morning with hooded riots, a parade that was rekindled with the armed lifting of Jorge Emilio Esquivel Muñoz, known as “Yorch.” Dumpsters were pushed out to block the roads and set aflame, and a car was also torched by the rioters.
According to a witness, at approximately 9:45 p.m. Wednesday night, Esquivel Muñoz was participating in a parade of the Che Guevara Auditorium collective when at the bus stop of Superama de Eje 10, about 10 armed men with military-style clothes knocked him into an unmarked white van and threatened anyone trying to help him. They took off away from Eje 10 towards an unknown destination.
But according to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), through the Deputy Attorney Specializing in the Investigation of Federal Crimes (SEIDF), a suspected drug dealer was detained in Mexico City, who was in possession of 50 bags of crack cocaine, 26 psychotropic pills “Ribotril” and unmarked bag of marijuana, weighing about 300 grams.
In response to a citizen’s complaint, agents of the Federal Ministerial Police investigated the Ampliación Molino de Las Rosas neighborhood of the Álvaro Obregón borough, where locals divulged information of his whereabouts.
After a surveillance operation, operatives of the Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA) managed to locate the suspects near a convenience store along the Avenida Universidad, while conducting an exchange of something pulled from his clothes.
The officers identified themselves and reviewed the contents of a suitcase, where the narcotics were found along with 400 pesos in cash.
The detainee was immediately transferred to the Specialized Crimes Unit on Narcotics Destined for Consumption (UEIDCNCF) of the SEIDF, where the federal prosecutor exercised penal action against him.
The detainee was previously arrested on Oct. 2, 2013 for damage to a street and to the detriment of pedestrians.
The detainee has been identified as Jorge Emilio Esquivel Muñoz, who is associated with Thursday’s riots at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) campus.
The roads and burning dumpsters were swiftly cleaned up by Civil Protection and local firefighters.
Later in the day, UNAM released the following statement to the press:
“A group of hooded individuals held a series of acts of vandalism against the institution and its community, in response to an arrest in the street by the federal authorities of an individual, Jorge Emilio Esquivel Muñoz, outside of the university, and allegedly linked to drug dealing activities.
Hooded rioters blocked one of the roadways to the University City by placing garbage bins which were subsequently set afire. In addition, they broke into the surveillance offices of Base One, located at 3000 Avenida Universidad, where they assaulted the guards who were there and burned the enclosure and vehicles of Auxilio UNAM.
UNAM is an academic institution, conceived and designed to meet their substantive tasks of teaching, research and the dissemination of culture, which does not have the infrastructure or security capable of repelling such acts of provocation. The great strength of UNAM is in its moral authority.
Therefore, UNAM, the community as a whole, demanded the evacuation of the Justo Sierra Auditorium, where provocateurs have taken shelter. It is events like today’s that make clear the violent nature of their occupation.”
