The 'Mexican spring:' A new student movement stirs in Mexico
#YoSoy132, a burgeoning student movement in Mexico, is calling for citizens to demand more of their politicians and institutions.
Students attend the student assembly by possible return of the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 30.
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Mexico City
“Welcome to the Mexican spring,” says a young student over a microphone on the campus of Mexico's most famed university, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
“It's time for change; it is time for a new Mexico,” he continues, met by thunderous applause. Students in the audience are munching on potato chips with hot sauce and lemon and mango-flavored ices, and have gathered for the first general assembly of Mexico's brand-new student movement known as “#YoSoy132,” or “I am 132.”
The movement rose spontaneously among private university students protesting the way, according to them, Mexico's television coverage of the presidential election campaign is unfairly boosting the former ruling party. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) held power in Mexico for 71 years.
These students have since joined forces with others from public universities and youth across the country, gathering a vast following across social media and receiving generous coverage from local newspapers, which are calling them the new wild card in the July 1 presidential race.
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