MEXICO -43 MISSING STUDENTS- MEMORY : MASTER ESSAY

 

Mexico City : A case solved, then unsolved. An explosive report on 43 missing students has unraveled.

ON the night they vanished in September 2014, the students, in keeping with a tradition that was largely tolerated by local bus companies, had commandeered a number of buses to drive to a demonstration in Mexico City commemorating a 1968 student massacre. 

The Mexican president said his government had finally solved the mystery behind the haunting disappearance of 43 students, one of the worst human rights abuses in the country's recent history.

In August,  the government unveiled a truth commission report saying that after being abducted in 2014, the students were killed by drug traffickers working with the police and the military. A number of arrest warrants followed.

But since then, the case has unraveled. Arrest warrants for military suspects were revoked. The lead prosecutor resigned. And now, the backbone of the government's explosive report is in question.

In an interview with The New York Times, the head of the truth commission said that much of what is presented as crucial new evidence could not be verified as real.

''There's a percentage, a very important percentage, that is invalidated,'' said the official, Alejandro Encinas.

The extraordinary admission - along with a review of government documents, a previously undisclosed recording and interviews with several people involved in the inquiry - point to how the government's rush to deliver answers resulted in a series of missteps : a truth commission that relied on unsubstantiated evidence and a criminal investigation that botched the prosecution of key suspects.

Pressure came from the very top : Mexico president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, announced in June that his government knew what had happened to the missing students and would put the matter to rest this year, even though investigators hadn't yet nailed the proof.

But problems also stemmed from dysfunction within his administration, where officials investigating the abduction withheld key information from one another, undermining their own case.

Instead of political victory, a campaign promise to finally close an open wound in the country has become a liability for the president, as families of the missing students have slammed the government for failing to deliver truth or justice.

''They needed to do something impeccable, but they didn't,'' said Santiago Aguirre, the primary lawyer representing the families. ''It ends up looking a lot like what happened before, finishing up without verifying, more out of politics than out of conviction of having the truth clarified.''

On the night they vanished in September 2014, the students, in keeping with a tradition that was largely tolerated by local bus companies, had commandeered a number of buses to drive to a demonstration in Mexico City commemorating a 1968 student massacre.

But the students were intercepted by gunmen, including municipal police officers, who forced them off the buses, shot some of them and took the rest away. After that, little is known about what happened.

The government of President Enrique Pena Nieto fumbled its investigation, producing a version of events it called '' the historical truth '' that blamed drug traffickers and local police officers, and was disputed by international investigators.

Even as evidence emerged linking federal security forces to the abduction, most of the students were never found.

For Mr. Lopez Obrador, the case carried special significance.

The victims - students at a rural teachers college in Ayotzinapa, a poor community in southern Mexico - were at the core of his base of support.

The deeply flawed investigation under Mr. Pena Nieto fed a broader wave of discontent with the political establishment in Mexico, which favored the outsider candidacy of Mr. Lopez Obrador and helped sweep him into power in 2018.

As president, Mr. Lopez Obrador's first executive order created a truth commission to investigate the disappearance. To lead the inquiry, he appointed Mr. Encinas, a longtime friend and former senator.

Families of the students were brought to the national palace for regular meetings, and felt that they were finally being taken seriously. The government opened a separate criminal investigation, helmed by a widely respected special prosecutor, Omar Gomez Trejo.

The remains of two students were identified.

The Publishing continues. The World Students Society thanks authors Natalie Kitroeff, Ronen Bergman and Oscar Lopez.