In a resounding reversal of history, the former prosecutor in charge of shedding light on the disappearance of 43 students from the rural school of Ayotzinapa, on the night of September 26, 2014, was arrested at his home in Mexico City, Friday August 19 by the police. The Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses Jesus Murillo Karam of being responsible for “enforced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice” in this affair which has shaken Mexico and had worldwide repercussions. His arrest exposes the corruption of the Mexican judicial system.
“Historical Truth”
On the evening of September 26, 2014, students from this rural school in the southern state of Guerrero planned to travel to Mexico City for a student event. To do this, they chartered two buses from the Iguala station. But on their way, they fall into an ambush. Result: 6 dead and 43 missing.
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At the end of his investigation, Jesús Murillo Karam, Attorney General of the Republic from 2012 to 2015, delivers his “historical truth” : it is the Guerreros unidos cartel which, according to this high magistrate, kidnapped the students before ordering their execution. This criminal group would have confused them with a rival group. “They were deprived of life, cremated and thrown into the San Juan River”, explains Murillo Karam. A hundred people are arrested, including one of the leaders of this criminal group, in connection with this case. But the conclusions of this investigation are far from convincing, especially within the families of the disappeared.
“A crime of the state”
The day after his election in June 2018, President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered the reopening of an investigation marked by procedural flaws and numerous inconsistencies. Independent investigations are launched. A team of Argentinian legal experts and a group of experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights undermine the official investigation. Very quickly, the participation of the military, the municipal police of Iguala and that of the State of Guerrero in this disappearance is no longer in doubt.
“Theft of the century” in a Mexican port
On Thursday August 18, the Under-Secretary for Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas, definitively torpedoed the “historical truth” claiming that Jesus Murillo Karam had “omitted and overlooked” several reports, qualifying the disappearance of the 43 students of Ayotzinapa as “state crime”.
This manager points out “ concerted action by the apparatus of power from the highest levels of government”. “If the authorities had intervened, the repression and murder of the students would have been avoided”assures the under-secretary in his report presented on Thursday 18 August.
An investigation far from over
Vidulfo Rosales, the main advocate for the parents of Ayotzinapa students, says he is satisfied with this new government approach. ” But we are still far from having shed all the light. (…)Investigations concerning the army have still not taken place. », he adds. The families of the students still hope to find the remains of their children.
Settlement of accounts between cartels, state corruption… In Mexico, this scandal has become the symbol of the links between politics and criminal groups during the time of the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), who could be worried in this affair . Mexican justice also ordered Friday, August 19 the arrest of 64 police and military involved in this tragic disappearance of 43 young students.