Morelos On Strike

ByGloria Muñoz Ramírez

This column by Gloria Muñoz Ramírez originally appeared in the March 7, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

They hadn’t even buried one classmate when another was killed, which keeps the student community of the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM) on strike and in the streets, even with the anonymous threats they have received for mobilizing: “for every faculty we take over, they are going to make a girl disappear,” they were warned.

Their frustration outweighs their fear. They know that if they don’t protest, the cycle of femicides against young women, whether university students or not, will continue, and that “today it’s them, but tomorrow it could be anyone.” Kimberly Joselin Ramos Beltrán, a student at UAEM, was reported missing on February 20th at the Chamilpa campus and was found dead on March 2nd near the institution. Meanwhile, Karol Toledo, an 18-year-old law student at the Higher Studies School of Mazatepec, also part of UAEM, disappeared on March 2nd after attending classes and was found dead on March 5th in the municipality of Coatetelco.

The image of a group of young women carrying white cardboard coffins covered with graffiti demanding justice for their companions precedes the mobilizations of this Sunday, March 8, which, within the framework of International Working Women’s Day, in Mexico has become the day of the murdered woman, the searching mother, the disappeared young woman, the harassed worker, the abused girl, the murdered defender and journalist.

Far from being a safe haven, the university has become a space of vulnerability for female students. Young women have reported theft, lack of streetlights, arbitrary fees, and sexual harassment by professors, staff, and students. “We can’t all get here,” they shout in the streets of a state governed by a woman (Margarita González); at a university whose rector is another woman (Viridiana Hernández León), whom they accuse of negligence and indifference. Being a woman in a position of power is no guarantee of anything.

Embracing the struggle of the UAEM students is the responsibility of the rest of society. Not abandoning them is a moral imperative. This March 8th is not just about marching, but about standing with them.