Credits: Courtesy of the author, Anabel Hernandez
What happened to the 43 students who disappeared in Iguala, Mexico, on the night of September 26, 2014? In the subsequent months after the students of the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College, who were en route to Mexico City, vanished without a word, the disappearance became a major international story, with massive protests demanding the in Mexico, the East Bay, and around the world. As international interest waned with time, however, investigative journalist and former UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program fellow Anabel Hernandez (pictured) dug in to try to piece the incomplete puzzle together. Hernandez’s efforts to get the truth were recently published in a book, called What Really Happened in Iguala (La Verdadera Noche de Iguala), in which she retraces the steps of the missing — and those in power responsible for the cover-up. She visits the streets of Iguala, where the kidnapping took place, and other crucial locations. On May 3, Hernandez will be speaking about her book in two separate East Bay events: At noon, she will be at UC Berkeley’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese in Dwinelle Hall (this event also includes a screening of a short documentary film on the U.S. role in perpetuating violence, and consequent migration, in communities in Mexico). Later that same evening, at 7 p.m., Hernandez will be at Oakland’s Eastside Arts Alliance.
Wednesday, May 3, noon-2 p.m., free. 5125 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley. And 7-9 p.m., free, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland, VerdaderaNocheDeIguala.com.
