Mexican government defends investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in 2014

The person in charge of a special commission of the Mexican government to clarify the disappearance of 43 students in 2014 defended this Sunday his investigation into the case and accused an “intense campaign” to discredit him.

“In recent weeks there has been an intense campaign that aims to discredit the work and investigations that we have carried out (…). It was totally predictable, we are shaking the old structures of power,” Alejandro said in a video posted on social networks. Encinas, Undersecretary for Human Rights and head of the Ayotzinapa Truth Commission (COVERAGES)

“Those who bet on impunity never imagined that we were going to take specific actions and decisions to resolve this matter,” Encinas added without mentioning who would be behind that alleged smear campaign.

Encinas’ statement comes after the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), a body created in 2015 by agreement between the government and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to clarify the case, pointed out several inconsistencies in its investigation.

Related Post

Army hides information about the Ayotzinapa case, says the GIEI

April 1, 2023

Murillo Karam appears before a judge for illnesses

December 2, 2022

IACHR alert setbacks in the Ayotzinapa case

November 16, 2022

Morena does not walk alone, anguish of the Palace

November 9, 2022

In particular, the GIEI questioned messages of WhatsApp that the government commission presented in August as evidence of the alleged collusion between criminals and authorities in the disappearance of the students from Ayotzinapa (state of Guerrero, south) between September 26 and 27, 2014.

The GIEI said that after carrying out an expert opinion it was not possible to guarantee the authenticity of these messages. Days before, Encinas himself had admitted in an interview with The New York Times that a “significant percentage of those messages” could not be verified.

The COVAJ report concluded that, due to their actions or omissions, the Mexican military were responsible for the disappearance and death of the youths at the hands of the Guerreros Unidos cartel.

That responsibility was not included in the call.”historical truth” raised by the government of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), which determined that the students were detained and handed over by local police to drug traffickers when they were mistaken for members of an enemy gang.

Encinas added this Sunday that the commission he is in charge of maintains its relationship with the GIEI, although he acknowledged that there are “some differences.”

“We are building a joint work path and new lines of investigation,” he said.

The students disappeared while trying to seize buses in Iguala, Guerrero, to travel to Mexico City to participate in demonstrations.

They were arrested by police in collusion with cartel drug traffickers United Warriors, who would have murdered them by mistaking them for members of a rival gang, according to the official version of the time. So far only the remains of three victims have been identified.