Ayotzinapa Students: Parents of Missing 43 Students Reject Mexico's Plans to Investigate
Nearly a year after the world was shocked by the disappearance of 43 students who went missing in the southwestern city of Iguala, President Enrique Peña Nieto has announced the creation of a special team to take over the investigation.
Peña Nieto spoke of his plans to have a special investigative team and prosecutor now handle the case after meeting with relatives of the missing just days before anniversary of the tragic event, according to a government press release.
The missing students, who disappeared on Sept. 26, 2014, are believed to have been incinerated at a dump by a drug gang working with local police. Since December only two of the students have been identified, and in both cases the families disbelieve the official story.
The BBC reports the families of the missing are calling for an international commission of experts to take over rather than have a government they distrust handle the investigation.
The families are requesting the government investigate the possible role of the army in the disappearance of the students. They are also demanding an investigation into those responsible for the initial probe which they believe was intended to offer disinformation.
The president has so far declined to authorize a new international probe or to even review the previous investigation. A spokesman for Peña Nieto did, however, relay the president’s message of solidarity, saying: "We're on the same side. You and I are seeking the same thing: to know what happened to each and every one of your sons."
A team of international experts sent by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has concluded that the bodies of 43 students could not have been burned at the rubbish dump in Cocula as the government says.
As Reuters reports, Cristina Bautista, a mother of one of the missing students, voiced her frustration, saying, "From the experts we have gotten a lot, from Peña Nieto, nothing."
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