I Couldn't Even Imagine That They Would Kill Us. John Gibler
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squad truck to make it move. They did that because the police started shooting. At first they shot in the air, but then they started shooting at us. That’s why the compañeros took action. They threw rocks at the truck, smashing its windshield. The other cops ran. And more police were running toward the zócalo, shooting behind them, not even looking to see if they were. . . . I mean, not looking to see if they could hurt someone who wasn’t even involved. But the police driver moved the squad truck and we kept going. The compañeros that had gotten off the bus stayed in the street, running next to the bus to repel another attack. We kept going forward.
CARLOS MARTÍNEZ, 21, SOPHOMORE. The guy driving the bus told us that he didn’t know his way around Iguala, that the bus was broken down, that he had a commitment at a certain time with his wife, you know, an endless list of excuses so that he drove really slowly. He was driving so slowly on purpose, as if he knew something. Who knows? But he drove the bus really slowly.
At that point, a police truck pulled in front of us. I saw through the bus window when the squad truck pulled in front and a number of police got out of the back aiming at us. The compañeros got off the bus. The police started to shoot in the air. We started to hear gunshots—a lot of gunshots. That was where the first shootings began. I got off the bus and when the police began to shoot I threw myself to the ground. The bullets were breaking glass. You could hear the glass breaking, and pieces of it started to fall on my back.
A few blocks later I started to hear music. I looked around and realized that we were at the Iguala zócalo, but people were running and soon the music shut off and everyone started running. By this time all the compañeros who had gotten off the bus, we were all running, fleeing while being shot at. We passed the zócalo. I remember I was running with a number of freshman compañeros. I crossed the zócalo and what we did was get back on the first bus. The bus had kept going, slowly, so we caught up with it and got back on, the first one like before. The bus kept going.
MIGUEL ALCOCER, 20, FRESHMAN. The police started shooting. The compañeros said that the police were shooting in the air, and I think they were. So many squad trucks started arriving. There were three buses in a caravan and I was in the lead bus. I don’t know much about Iguala, but we were on a straight street and on that street the municipal police would pull out from the intersections. At that time the shots were coming directly at us. The driver kept going straight ahead and the police would drive up and shoot at us. Some compañeros under the stress of being shot at got off the bus and picked up rocks. I think there is a zócalo around there. I don’t know what was going on, but there was some kind of a park and there were a lot of people around. A municipal police officer cut us off around there. The squad truck blocked us and the cops shot directly at us. There were also police shooting at us from behind. You couldn’t run anywhere. So some compañeros managed to find some rocks and threw them at the squad truck and broke the windshield. So the cop moved the truck out of the way and we were able to keep going.
EDGAR YAIR, 18, FRESHMAN. At first the police were shooting in the air. We weren’t scared because never. . . . Well, we knew that they couldn’t shoot at us because we’re students and they can’t do that to people like us. We kept going and at every street corner we passed, police squad trucks pulled out, and the bullets were coming more and more directly at us each time. And we had rocks. . . . Whatever we could find. We threw the rocks at the police because they were shooting at us. There were three buses in a caravan. I was in the second bus. We drove down that whole avenue and the cops didn’t even care that there were so many other people around, kids, women, all kinds of people. And the cops didn’t respect those people. As we drove along the avenue, we didn’t care about anything, what we cared about was getting out of there as soon as possible.
IVÁN CISNEROS, 19, SOPHOMORE. We came to what I think was the zócalo, or something like that, I couldn’t see well, when the first municipal police trucks started pulling up. They didn’t tell us to stop; they just pulled out in front and starting cocking their guns and aiming at us. And that’s when we got angry, because before, when we were asking for donations on the highway, the federal police would show up with the same attitude, cocking their weapons, but we would instantly tell them that we were students, and unarmed. And then the police would think about it and their commander or the person in charge would tell them to lower their guns. And so that’s what we did, it’s kind of like a truce, when we say: “We’re students, we don’t have any weapons,” and we show our empty hands in the air, that we’re unarmed, that was when, before, the police would lower their weapons and we’d have to start some kind of dialogue. That’s the way it had been before.
For example, the state police in Chilpancingo say to us: “Young men, you can’t grab vehicles like that, you have to come to an agreement with the bus companies and blah, blah, blah,” stuff like that. But at that moment, the police didn’t act like that. We said:
“We’re students, we’re unarmed,” but the police didn’t give a shit. They kept aiming at us and that’s when we heard the first gunshots from the back of the caravan. I told the others to get off the bus and grab rocks. We started pelting the squad truck that was blocking us. That truck took off, but we still heard gunshots coming from behind. They kept shooting, but I think they were shooting in the air. At that moment, we ran ahead to stop traffic from the side streets so that the bus could get through. All along the way we kept hearing gunshots, they popped in the air.
ERNESTO GUERRERO, 23, FRESHMAN. Leaving the bus station we made it about a block and a half when the first two police squad trucks came out of nowhere. At no point did they signal for us to stop, at no point did they try to speak with us, they simply started firing their weapons in the air. We were in a caravan of three buses: the two Costa Line buses that we had just taken, and an Estrella de Oro that was in the rear. I was in that bus, the third one. When we heard the gunshots, one of the sophomore compas who was with us said:
“Don’t be scared, paisas, they’re shooting in the air.”
But when we got off the bus we saw that they were not just shooting in the air, but also shooting at the bus, and they started aiming at us. That’s when we made the decision to defend ourselves. How? In the road there I found four rocks, and four rocks are what I threw. We didn’t have any choice. We had to defend ourselves with whatever was around, or let them kill us without putting up any defense. At least I’m of the opinion that if they’re going to kill me, at least let it be while I’m defending myself. And, well, I found four rocks and I threw four rocks. It was obvious that the municipal police wanted to take our lives. The gunshots were aimed at the bus and at those of us who had gotten off the bus. That was when we decided to get back on the buses. We ran a bit farther down the road. The Iguala police were still shooting at the buses. I didn’t find any more rocks.
How was I to defend myself? I ran. The third bus in the caravan closed its door. The second bus had its door closed too. I ran up to the first bus and that was when I was able to jump on. I stayed there in the entrance, by the door of the first bus.
ANDRÉS HERNÁNDEZ, 21, FRESHMAN. The police had already blown out the tires of the first bus, where I was riding. I realized this when a squad truck pulled out in front of us and parked there to block our way. All the police got out of the squad truck, hid around the street corners and shot at us. So what we did was run up to the squad truck to push it out of the way. We were pushing the truck when a second squad truck came within six or seven meters of us. It pulled up and the police shot at us, brutally, without thinking twice about it. They shot at us and that was when the first compañero, a student in my group named Aldo Gutiérrez Solano, fell. When we saw that he had fallen it enraged us. We wanted to escape, but the police were shooting at us, so we ran back to hide behind the first bus. In my case, I was there behind the first bus, taking shelter.
CARLOS MARTÍNEZ, 21, SOPHOMORE. We were driving along Álvarez Avenue. Through the window I could see the Periférico. We were so close to turning onto the Periférico when a police truck pulled in front of us. It was a municipal police Ranger-type truck. But something strange happened there. The squad truck pulled up with a guy driving it, and that guy