Investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico bounces back: human fragments found

Steph Deschamps / July 1, 2020

Mexican investigators have found human fragments that may correspond to the remains of one or more of the 43 students who disappeared in southern Mexico during the night of September 26-27, 2014, attorney general Alejandro Gertz Manero said on Tuesday.

Manero also said that a judge had been asked to issue arrest warrants for 46 officials or former officials of the State of Guerrero, accused of enforced disappearance and organized crime.

The remains were sent to the University of Innsbruck for analysis, he said. The results are expected later this week.

Meanwhile, police have arrested one of the alleged leaders of the local Guerreros Unidos cartel, accused of having participated in the disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training school, the prosecutor's office said. .

During the night of September 26-27, 2014, the students grabbed five buses to demonstrate in Mexico City. They were attacked by Iguala municipal police officers, on the orders of the mayor.

According to the authorities, the police then handed them over to the Guerreros Unidos cartel, which they mistook for and killed a rival cartel, before cremating their bodies in a landfill.

The government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has revived the investigation into the abductions after the previous one was the subject of numerous accusations of incompetence and even corruption. More than half of the more than 140 suspects had notably been released.

Credit : Sudinfo