Carmelo Ramirez Morales lived through a night of violence that dominated international headlines in fall 2014. It was the last time he saw his cousin and 42 other students at a rural teachers college in the Mexican state of Guerrero.
Now resettled in Minnesota, Morales is believed to be the first person to apply for political asylum in the United States following the students' disappearance. They were last seen boarding police cars after a standoff with authorities on their way to a protest. Since then, Morales and others have traveled across Mexico and beyond to call for holding those involved in the disappearance accountable.
Morales' application is a test case watched closely by others in Guerrero who have criticized the Mexican government's handling of the incident, says his Minneapolis attorney, Jeff Larson. Some families of the missing students see his asylum bid as abandoning their cause. But with a group of Minnesota supporters rallying around him, Morales argues he is just seeking a larger pulpit to continue speaking out.
"I don't want people to forget what happened," said Morales, 20. "We have to continue fighting and looking for justice."
A chaotic night
Morales first came to Minnesota in November to speak on the campus of St. John's University in Collegeville.
There, a group following the students' disappearance closely were worried it was slipping out of the public consciousness. One of them, graduate student Jose Velazquez, had stayed with Morales during a visit to Guerrero earlier last year to offer support to the families. He helped line up an invitation to the university's Global Awareness Lecture series for Morales and a classmate.
"Bringing the students to campus was a good way to relight that story," said Jake Collins, a senior and fellow organizer.
In Collegeville, Morales and his classmate took part in a candlelight vigil and the screening of a new documentary about the case. They told their story to about 300 people.