Eight years after the kidnapping of 43 students in Mexico, the chief investigator of a special unit is resigning. Omar Gómez Trejo, who was close to the victims’ families, resigned after disputes within the prosecutor’s office, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said. Recently, dozens of arrest warrants that had already been issued had been withdrawn, including 16 against members of the armed forces.
On Monday, the anniversary of the young men’s disappearance, their families had criticized the investigation. The accused were recently arrested, said the victims’ lawyer, Vidulfo Rosales. However, several other arrest warrants were canceled again. Thousands of people took to the streets in Mexico City to investigate the crime and shouted: “You took them alive – we want them back alive.” Violent riots broke out on the fringes of the demonstration.
What really happened in 2014?
According to the official account, corrupt police officers kidnapped the students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college in the southern city of Iguala on the night of September 27, 2014 and handed them over to the Guerreros Unidos criminal syndicate. Gang members are said to have mistaken the students for members of a rival cartel, murdered them and burned the bodies in a rubbish dump.
Thousands of people demanded clarification of the crime in Mexico City on Monday
However, independent experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights question this account. The background to the crime has not been elucidated to this day. Only bone fragments from three of the young men have been found and identified so far. In August, a truth commission described the act as a state crime and declared the students dead. Accordingly, federal officials, military and prosecutors should also be involved in the case.
Arrested Attorney General
After the commission’s report was published, Jesús Murillo Karam, the Attorney General responsible at the time, was arrested. He is said to have influenced the investigation in such a way that the course of the crime does not come to light. Murillo Karam has been charged with disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice.
jj/rb (dpa, epd, ap)
