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Three members of the army were arrested for their alleged link to the disappearance of 43 students that occurred in 2014 in Iguala, in southern Mexico, the government reported Thursday.
Although the undersecretary of Public Security, Ricardo Mejía, who reported the arrests, did not mention the names, he said among them is the former commander of the 27th Infantry Battalion of Iguala when the disappearances occurred and that a fourth arrest warrant is expected to be issued. capture of another member of that force.
The person in charge of the Iguala Infantry Battalion at that time was the current General José Rodríguez Pérez, who was mentioned last month by the Undersecretary of the Interior and President of the Truth Commission, Alejandro Encinas, as the person allegedly responsible for the disappearance of six of the 43 students occurred between September 26 and 27, 2014.
According to the Truth Commission report, the six normalistas were held in a place called the “old warehouse” and on September 30, 2014, a person identified as “the colonel” commented that “they would be in charge of cleaning everything and that they had already taken care of the six students.”
The announcement about the arrest of the uniformed men occurs in the midst of the controversy generated after the Congress, with an official majority, approved last week the transfer of the National Guard, which was under civilian command, to the Army and the congressmen discuss a constitutional reform to extend until 2028 the permanence of the military in the streets, actions considered an advance of militarization in Mexico.
The legislative initiatives have been backed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who during his six-year term has handed over an increasing number of tasks to the military, including the construction of emblematic works, such as the new airport in the Mexican capital and a train in the south of the country, and handling customs and some airports.
The army’s role in the students’ disappearance has long been a source of tension between the families and the government.
The Ayotzinapa case has become a symbol in a country with more than 100,000 disappeared and where extremely high levels of impunity, corruption and violence still prevail.
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