The eight members of the military in Mexico are accused of having participated in the kidnapping of the 43 students, Interior Ministry Secretary Alejandro Encinas said on Twitter. Charges have been brought against her. The soldiers were arrested last week after Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office reactivated 16 arrest warrants against members of the armed forces that had been issued in September 2022 but were then overturned.
Four other members of the armed forces are already in custody, including a commander who is said to have ordered the murder of six of the young men. Arrest warrants have been issued for eight other soldiers.
Students at the Ayotzinapa teacher training college in the southern Mexican city of Iguala disappeared on the night of September 27, 2014. They wanted to take part in demonstrations in Mexico City. Corrupt police officers are said to have abducted them and handed them over to the Guerreros Unidos criminal syndicate. The background to the crime has not been elucidated to this day. Only bone fragments from three of the young men have been found and identified so far.
Declared dead last year
In August last year, a truth commission described the act as a state crime and declared the students dead. Scores of Guerreros Unidos members, police officers and civil servants were arrested.
After the commission’s report was published, Jesus Murillo Karam, the Attorney General responsible at the time, was arrested. He is said to have manipulated the investigation in order to close the case quickly. He is also accused of condoning torture methods and of complicity in the disappearance of the students. Charges were also brought against him.
se/gri (dpa, afp)
Source: DW
