Three years after the events in Iguala that resulted in the disappearance of 43 students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, the Mexican government reaffirms its commitment to the victims and reiterates that it will continue to use all means at its disposal in investigating, searching for and assisting the victims and their families.
In this regard, it is important to note that the Office of the Attorney General has continued to make progress with the investigations and search for the 43 students and has remained in the closest possible contact with their families and representatives, in addition to addressing the requirements of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) follow-up mechanism.
Three years after the tragic and reprehensible events, the information is as follows:
- The Office of the Attorney General (PGR) has focused on exhausting all necessary lines of investigation, including those proposed by the victims’ families, those indicated at the time by the IACHR Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), and those related to the observations made by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
- Almost all of the 973 recommendations and petitions made by the GIEI at the time have been addressed.
- At all times, the case has been treated with objectivity. It is the broadest investigation undertaken at any time by the Attorney-General’s Office. This is confirmed by the existence of over 500 volumes of records.
- Legal action has been taken against more than 120 people as a result of the investigative work done on the case. 71 are accused of kidnapping the 43 young students. Although sentences have not yet been handed down, this is mainly due to two substantive reasons: 1) The accused have been exhausting all legal remedies available to them regarding the rulings that have been issued; and, 2) it is not legally possible to close the course of the proceedings while evidence continues to be offered. However, the PGR continues to do its utmost to ensure that the legal proceedings progress as expeditiously as possible.
- Regarding the lines of investigation proposed by the families of the direct victims and their representatives, key aspects of the events have been clarified, following an 11-point timetable given at the time to the IACHR and notified to the victims’ representatives.
- To date, of the eleven points or topics, the following have been addressed:
- The specific situation of the municipal police officers against whom the families requested that charges be brought
- The so-called fifth bus
- The phone calls of the missing students
- Details about the C4 operation in Iguala on the night of the events
- Clarification of the identity of individuals that urgently needed to be identified (El Caminante and El Patrón).
- Establishing whether or not state and federal police were involved.
- Obtaining information by requesting international legal assistance from the United States government on drug trafficking from Guerrero to Chicago by Guerreros Unidos, a criminal group.
- In the process of investigating the case, many methods have been used to search for the missing students on the ground, in institutions and with the use of advanced technology (Lidar). This is a key part of the ongoing actions, as intended by the IACHR precautionary measures. Currently, images of a 60 square kilometer area suggested by the victims’ representatives are being examined in order to then directly examine the places whose characteristics suggest might contain clandestine graves. This is an example of the use of this technology.
- All of the information on the investigation’s progress and results has been given to the families at meetings held periodically with them and their representatives.
- Lastly, the IACHR is kept informed by addressing its requests for information and at public and private hearings that are regularly held for that purpose. In addition, this and any other type of information on the case is shared at meetings with the Commissioner for Mexico and IACHR technical personnel during the official and technical visits made as part of the follow-up mechanism on the case.