Missing students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico: government promises transparency long overdue

In Mexico, relatives of 43 students who disappeared in 2014 are preparing to march through the streets of the capital. They continue to demand answers from the authorities on what happened during the night of 26 to 27 September in Iguala, Guerrero State. If the Mexican state under the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador promised transparency, in fact this is not the case.

Photos of missing students from Ayotzinapa Normal School. AP - Eduardo Verdugo

By: RFI Follow

Advertising

Read more

Already last year, a report stated that the missing youths were no longer alive. In recent months, the case has had several twists and turns, revealing a state scandal and confirming the involvement of the police and armed forces in the kidnapping and disappearance of normaliens. In Mexico City, the families' lawyer recently gave a press conference with academics and independent experts who have studied the case, but many questions remain unanswered, says our correspondent in Mexico City, Gwendolina Duval.

The relatives of the disappeared were received by leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who denies the involvement of his government, which is accused of hiding evidence that would incriminate the army.

The students from the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College disappeared on the night of 26 to 27 September 2014 after travelling to Iguala, where they were preparing to board several buses to travel to Mexico City and participate in a demonstration. According to official versions, they were detained by the police, in collusion with criminals, and were handed over to the Guerreros Unidos cartel that murdered them.

Military pressure and manoeuvres

The state and the military know more than they want to say. And they still have to deliver answers so that the veil is finally lifted on what happened to the 43 students of Ayotzinapa, who had long been under military surveillance.

« 

The information is very fragmented," said Vidulfo Rosales, who is the lawyer for the families of the disappeared. "When the students arrived in Iguala, there were two or three military intelligence agents who intervened on the spot and of course, they started to make reports directly with the students, on the ground, until the disappearance but since then, we no longer have the information. And that's the part we're asking for. »

The authorities have repeatedly obstructed the progress of the truth. Carlos Beristain, a member of the former independent group of experts investigating the case and whose mission has ended, also denounces political pressure and manoeuvres: "It has been shown that the state has lied about the elements we have discovered so far. We are leaving it to the country in which to continue to look, and proof that some information does exist. There is no denying that they exist. Truth must be more important than reason of state.

(

And with AFP)

NewsletterReceive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Share:

Read on on the same topics:

• Mexico
• Criminality
• Society
• Human rights
• Justice
• Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador