“The army knows it”: in Mexico, thousands of demonstrators ask for justice for “43” of Ayotzinapa

New clashes broke out at the end of the procession in the center of the capital despite the call to a peaceful march formulated by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, eight years after the drama.

Le Monde with AFP

Thousands of demonstrators accused the army on Monday September 26 in Mexico City, during the eighth anniversary of the disappearance of the 43 students of Ayotzinapa, an emblematic case of the “human tragedy” of the more than 100,000 missing in the country. The families of the “43” walked under a banner displaying the words “The army knows it”, a month and a half after an official report has implicated the armed forces for the first time in eight years.

“We demand that we are investigating the military, that we punish them, that we do not only investigate the organized delinquency,” said the mother of one of the young people, Blanca Nava. Students disappeared on the night of September 26 to 27, 2014 in Iguala, in the State of Guerrero (South), where they went to “requisition” buses in order to go to Mexico.

 a young person sticks to the leaves who call for justice for the disappearance of these 43 students. In Mexico, on the sidelines of demonstrations, September 26, 2022. A young person sticks leaves that call for justice for the disappearance of these 43 students. In Mexico City, on the sidelines of the demonstrations, September 26, 2022. Eduardo Verdugo/AP

According to the first official survey carried out under former President Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018), the 43 Young people were arrested by local Police Police with the Gang Guerreros Unidos. They were then shot dead and burned in a discharge for reasons that remain obscure. Only the remains of three of them could be identified.

an ex-approval arrested

The report of the “Ayotzinapa Truth Commission” concluded in August that the Mexican soldiers also had a share of responsibility in this crime. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador welcomed the pact of silence and impunity on Monday.

The ex-prosecutor General Jesus Murillo Karam was arrested after the publication of the report. He will be judged by a criminal court for “forced disappearances, torture and obstruction to justice”.

“This is a significant advance,” said lawyer for Vidulfo Rosales families, who however denounces setbacks in the investigation, such as the cancellation of 20 arrest mandates towards alleged officials of the drama of Ayotzinapa. A Mexican court had issued, at the end of August, 83 arrest terms in the case of the 43 missing.


Thousands of demonstrators in the streets of Mexico City, September 26, 2022. Marco Ugarte / Ap

Mexico asked Israel the extradition of Tomas Zeron, ex-chief of the criminal investigation agency under former President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-20 18). He is accused of having manipulated evidence. Mexico has more than 100,000 missing people, “a human tragedy”, had denounced in May the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The counting of the disappeared began from 1964, when the Mexican regime led a “dirty war” against groups of political opponents. Forced disappearances gained momentum from the 2000s in a context of violence linked to drug trafficking.

/Media reports.