The IACHR demands “guarantees of independence” in the investigation of the Ayotzinapa case

During the presentation of his third report on the Ayotzinapa casethe Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) demanded “guarantees of independence” from the Mexican State in the investigation into the disappearance of 43 students eight years ago.

“It is urgent that measures be adopted to redirect the investigation and strengthen the guarantees of independence of the ministerial authorities in charge of it, in order to safeguard the progress achieved so far and avoid setbacks,” said the IACHR.

Likewise, he asked to clarify what role the military and police forces played in collusion with criminal groups, in the events that occurred on September 26 and 27, 2014.

In addition, the body concludes that it is “necessary to determine the responsibilities of the state agents who issued and executed the instructions for the fabrication of proceedings in order to obstruct justice” and that, for this, they must “redouble their efforts” with a view to give explanations to the relatives of the disappeared.

The previous administration of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto claimed the youths were killed and their remains destroyed after they were kidnapped by corrupt police officers working with a local drug gang, who believed the students had been infiltrated by a rival group.

A group of experts created later by the IACHR to review the evidence objected to this version of events and denounced that the Army, which has a base in Iguala, was hiding evidence.

In the current administration

The executive of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador published new conclusions in August, qualifying the “state crime” incident and noting the involvement of the military.

Later, the authorities withdrew more than 20 arrest warrants that had been issued against officials, mainly military officers.

The IACHR warned that, despite its desire to resolve the case, the current administration had not eliminated “persistent structures within the state apparatus that sought to cover up the serious events that occurred.”

“We are talking about the Mexican Armed Forces,” said IACHR commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño during the presentation of the report, expressing her concern about what she called the “militarization” of the country under the management of López Obrador. The leftist president has given the army a mandate that extends to areas normally reserved for civilians.

In September, the Mexican president came out in defense of the Army, after the dissemination of new information on the role of the military in the disappearance and concealment of the bodies.

The president says that the investigations are ongoing. So far, researchers have only definitively identified the remains of two of the students.

[Con información de Reuters]

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