Mexicans Protest Over Attorney General Remarks on Ayotzinapa Case (11/8/2014)

Vigil held in New York City over Ayotzinapa student disappearance. Photo: La Cartita

La Cartita -- In Mexico City, thousands marched demanding a more thorough investigation and halt to state-sponsored violence. The Mexican public demands a thorough investigation as to how multiple municipal police were involved in student kidnappings and why state and federal authorities did not intervene.

Accidentally, the Attorney General mouthed to one of his aides the following phrase: “I’m tired (of this)” as he fielded questions about the Ayotzinapa case. As a result, thousands of people demonstatred demanding a halt to state-sponsored violence in Mexico City and to express their dissatisfaction with federal authorities. One of the lingering questions is how so many municipal police forces could be involved with the kidnapping and killings. The investigation has also not sought to expose the extent of state and federal involvement in the disappearances.

During the march, the Mexican public aired out their outrage over how state and federal authorities did not intervene. To many, the lack of a federal and state response during the Iguala attacks spells out a fundamental indifference to public safety and active complicity with the murder of the students.

The findings from the government are corroborated by Father Solalinde’s testimony as to what occurred with the students. The crucial distinction is that Solalinde’s conclusions were definitive and focused squarely on government forces. Solalinde went as far to state that there was no credible evidence of involvement by narco-traffickers. Mexicans wonder aloud as to why the government can not definitively state that the remains found were the students. Some hypothesize that if the Mexican government maintains their conclusions ambiguous it allows them to shift the focus of the investigation on an impossible goal: finding the students alive. Doing so allows the government to control public perception and reduce the likelihood of focusing an investigation into the people who ordered the killing. Presenting their conclusions as tentative allows them to absolve themselves from further responsibility.

Guerrero’s own state government launched a seven deputy investigation of the Ayotzinapa case. This group of state representatives published their findings Monday (11/3/2014) and concluded that there were various irregularities with the investigation immediately after it became known the students were kidnapped. Specifically, the deputies concluded that federal and state authorities were virtually inactive during the initial 72 hour period that is so crucial to kidnapping cases.

Furthermore, testimony from students also confirms a lack of government interest in their safety during the actual attack in Iguala. The strongest eye-witness evidence actually places culpability over the Iguala attack on municipal police, state and federal officers. Army personnel are also reported to have interrogated and beaten wounded Ayotzinapa students. The students affirm that military operatives beat them as they sought their help during the second wave of gunfire in Iguala. Note that there were two significant armed attacks spanning a timeframe of two hours - ample time for even a tepid federal and state level response. Instead, there was both active repression of the students during and after the attack by federal and military authorities. As a result, many students have left the Ayotzinapa Normal school because they fear for their safety.

In the press conference, Murillo Karam stated that the killers made confessions indicating where and how the student's dead bodies were disposed. According to this testimony, the students were burned and their ashes thrown into a river in Cocula, Guerrero. However, given the possible use of torture by Mexican authorities, there exists the possibility that their coerced testimony is the only documented link between the Iguala attacks and any narco-traffickers.