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#YoSoy132: A Look Back at the Future of Mexico

The students and young people of #YoSoy132 celebrated their one-year anniversary on Saturday.

It was May 11, 2012, that PRI presidential-candidate Enrique Peña Nieto attended a forum at Ibero University and was literally run out after rejecting a question asked to him about the beatings, rapes and other human rights abuses at Atenco that he oversaw as governor of the State of Mexico.

More than a thousand students carried signs, cut-outs of the face of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and chanted, “Atenco no se olvida” as Peña Nieto was whisked away by bodyguards.

PRI president Pedro Joaquín Coldwell and other Peña Nieto campaign heads attempted to dismiss those involved in the protest by calling them thugs and “acarreados,” or paid protesters.

In response, 131 Ibero students made a video showing their student ID cards. The video went viral on Twitter; in solidarity, many began using the hashtag #YoSoy132, and thus, a movement was born.

What followed were several more protests, marches and forums that played a major role in the final seven weeks of the presidential campaign period, and beyond.

#YoSoy132 has used their network and resources to serve social causes important to Mexican young people, like that of helping Central American migrants and Indigenous Peoples.

Hundreds of thousands have marched with #YoSoy132 throughout Mexico and the world, but many continue to dismiss them as fresas and ninis. Time will tell the role they’ll play in the future of Mexico, but what’s certain is that they’ve already left their mark on society and the consciousness of many more.

5 Stories That Marked #YoSoy132 First Year as a Movement:

1. #YoSoy132 - Chronology of a Movement

2. Students and Young People of Mexico March for Democracy, Fair Media #MarchaYoSoy132

3. Antonio Attolini: From Golden Boy to Televisa Sell Out

4. What Really Happened During El Grito?

5. #Luz132: El Video Que Televisa No Quire Que Veas

Read more #YoSoy132 stories