Relatives of missing Mexico students vow to revive efforts

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY

Parents and relatives of 43 students who disappeared 18 months ago said Monday that they would revive mobilizations until they know the truth about their loved ones.

Protesters gathered in front of the Attorney General’s office in Mexico City to voice rejection of the findings of the latest government report.

The results of a third investigation by experts named by the government supported the official version of the Ayotzinapa College students’ disappearance at the hands of Iguala local police on Sept 26, 2014, before being handed over to gang members who killed them and burned their bodies.

The parents of the missing students rejected outright the results. “We will protest until we overthrow President Enrique Pena Nieto as he has lied for 18 months about the details of the disappearance of our kids,” said the mother of one of students.

A lawyer for the students’ families said “national and international organizations will accompany the relatives of the missing students in a new round of marches and mobilization” that will begin April 6.

Argentine forensic experts who have twice investigated the nearby dump where the bodies were allegedly burned said the new report "neither confirms nor denies" the official version, qualified as ”historic truth” by the former Mexican Attorney General.

One year after the abductions a team of international experts sent by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (IACHR), released a report that dismantled the government's investigation.

The report, written by investigators from Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Spain poked holes in the official investigation, while providing new lines of investigation.

The independent experts explained that the police and the army were monitoring the students before the multiple attacks the night in question, killing six people and leading to the disappearance of the 43 students.

The experts asked the Mexican government to interview members of the army in Iguala. The minister of National Defense has rejected the requests.

The IACHR's team strongly criticized the new report, claiming Mexico’s attorney general had broken her promise to seek consensus amongst experts before releasing a new report.

The IACHR’s mandate that has been prolonged twice since Sept. 2015 will expire at the end of April.

The government announced that it would not renew the mandate, even if relatives of the missing students are asking for permanency for the group.