World's Most Dangerous University: Students plauged with disease, beaten and kidnapped at Mexican university

Several reports of abductions, breakout of diseases and violence have been reported at the University of Veracruz in Mexico. A recent incident even had eight students nearly beaten to death by machete-wielding men who crashed a birthday party.

MUNTINLUPA CITY, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - After several reports of abductions, disappearances, beatings and epidemics of diseases, such as dengue fever and chikungunya, The University of Veracruz is now considered the world's most dangerous place for students to be.

In a violent attack two months ago, ten masked men armed with baseball bats and machetes crashed a birthday party on the university's campus, nearly beating four male and four female students to death.

The injured students had to flee after the beating incident and some suddenly disappeared because of several death threats.

One student on the campus claims the incident was due to intimidation. In a recent interview, Carlos Landa said, "The birthday boy had been speaking out against the university's administration, and around here they know exactly how to make you shut up."

After the incident, municipal police of Xalapa took over 12 hours to send an officer to the crime scene, despite the incident being heard by neighbors three blocks away. Local police have no plans to begin an official investigation at this time.

News of the savage beating sent shockwaves throughout the university, but it is only one of several horrific events on the Mexican campus.

The University of Veracruz, located in the state capital Xalapa, reported a 78 percent return rate of its students following several events that were compared to "the plagues of Egypt."

According to a spokesperson of the university, they experienced several deaths, plagues of insects, terrible violence inside the campus and a continuing kidnapping crisis.

Poor waste management has been the culprit of the diseases and mosquitoes spreading around campus. When fumigators were called, they arrived too late to contain the epidemic which resulted in over 250 cases of chikungunya.

Kidnappers have been frequenting the campus with 20 reported incidents of abduction in the last two months and only 16 victims returned alive.

When Jose Antonio Castanero went to the police to handle the return of a kidnap victim, the police did nothing. "The police took down the details of the case and finally recommended that we deal directly with the kidnappers and pay the ransom," Castanero said.

The kidnappers wanted the money deposited into a bank account and gave Castanero their account number and sort code, but when he suggested the police track the criminals using the number, he says, "The police just laughed. Who would possibly choose to be a student here when the only thing this town is known for is crime?"

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Xalapa currently accounts for about 40 percent of the crimes in the state and has risen steadily since new governor Javier Duarte took office in 2010.

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