Decade after Ayotzinapa students disappeared, parents have no answers
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Relatives of some of the students who were disappeared 10 years ago protest outside the Interior Ministry in Mexico City on Tuesday. Photo: Rodrigo Oropeza/AFP via Getty Images
A decade after 43 students were abducted in Guerrero, Mexico, their families say the government has largely abandoned the investigation.
Why it matters: The students from Ayotzinapa rural school are part of the largest mass disappearance in modern Mexican history, and they are among the more than 110,000 people who have been reported missing or disappeared in the last 50 years.
- Yet the outgoing government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has downplayed the situation, arguing the number of people missing is "inflated" by alleged political opponents.
The other side: López Obrador said Wednesday in a letter to the parents of the missing students that he's "happy that the case was handled."
- "I leave with the peace of mind that the next government will continue" on with the investigation, he wrote.
Flashback: The pupils, who were studying to be teachers and were all from impoverished backgrounds, were last seen in police vehicles the night of Sept. 26, 2014, outside the state capital of Guerrero. They had arrived earlier that day to commandeer buses to travel to Mexico City for a yearly protest in remembrance of a 1968 massacre of students.
- The motive for their disappearance is still unsolved, and the parents contend that it's in large part because López Obrador, who promised to prioritize the case when he came into power six years ago, has protected military officials who could have valuable information.
Zoom in: Outside investigators say it's likely the students were kidnapped because one of the buses they were in had drugs, which was unknown to the students. Inquiries have found links between a local cartel and officials who were in the Guerrero state government at the time.
- The independent investigations have also repeatedly pointed to involvement from police and armed forces not only in the disappearance but in the withholding of evidence about where the students were initially taken.
Families of the missing students know almost nothing except that a few small charred bone remains found in a field likely belonged to three of the students.
- Military officers initially detained as part of the investigation were released on bail this summer despite the lawyers for the families arguing they were flight risk.
- Others accused in the case were freed after the courts found they had been tortured into confessing.
What they're saying: "As parents, we'll never stop looking for the truth about what happened to our kids … meanwhile, the president said he would support us and he just lied," said Metodia Carrillo, the mother of one of the missing students, on Tuesday during a protest outside the Mexican Senate building.
- Carrillo's son, Luis Ángel Abarca Carrillo, was 17 years old when he disappeared.
- The families, advocates, and other students from the Ayotzinapa school are set to march down a main avenue in Mexico City on Thursday.
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