“Disclosing the truth and punishing those responsible strengthens the institutions,” said the leftist president at a press conference, after the report of a government commission that has been investigating the case since 2019 and considers it a ” state crime”.
The document assures that the military and officials, due to their “actions, omissions or participation”, allowed the kidnapping and death of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa normal school and six more people by the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel.
“Disclosing this atrocious, inhumane situation, and at the same time punishing those responsible, helps prevent repetition. May these unfortunate events never occur in our country again,” added López Obrador in the city of Tijuana (north).
The rank of the uniformed men or if they are still active has not been reported.
Prior to its public dissemination, the president heard the report on Thursday along with the families of the victims.
“We said from the beginning that we were going to speak the truth, no matter how painful it was. I expressed my pain, my sadness to them,” she commented.
The relatives will submit the document to an assessment by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), created by an agreement between the previous government of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), announced Vidulfo Rosales, parents’ attorney.
– Does not weaken the Armed Forces –
The disappearance of the young people occurred between the night of September 26 and the early morning of September 27, 2014, when they were going to the city of Iguala (state of Guerrero, south) to get hold of buses in which they intended to travel to Mexico City. to participate in protests.
This episode constitutes one of the worst human rights violations in Mexico and generated strong international condemnation.
In the presence of the Secretaries of Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, and of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda, the Mexican president maintained that the participation of “bad public servants” in the events of Ayotzinapa does not imply the “malfunctioning of an institution”, even more so “if the demarcation is made and those responsible are punished.”
In his opinion, the commission’s revelations strengthen the Army.
“What weakens an institution is that it does not act in accordance with the truth and there is corruption, impunity,” observed López Obrador, in whose government, which began in 2018, the Armed Forces play a leading role.
AMLO, as the president is known by his initials, has entrusted them with the construction of emblematic works of his government, such as an airport for Mexico City and the tourist Mayan Train, and plans to put under his command the National Guard, which originally created as a civil police.
– The time of the judges –
The report mentions “clear responsibilities of elements” of the Secretaries of Defense and the Navy stationed at the scene of the events, but warns that the extent to which this participation reached must continue to be investigated.
“The prosecution will continue to act (…) and the judges will also be responsible for administering justice,” said López Obrador.
“On our part, what is guaranteed is not to hide anything, offer all the information and give all the facilities so that it goes to the bottom, as has been done,” he promised, after the independent commission accused the authorities in March of refusing to deliver intelligence data necessary to advance the investigations.
The GIEI maintains that the military manipulated evidence in a garbage dump where human remains were found, including those of the only three normalists identified so far.
The findings of that group and the government commission demolish a large part of the so-called “historical truth” raised by the Peña Nieto government, which did not prove the responsibility of the military.
According to that version, the young people were arrested and handed over by local police to drug traffickers from Guerreros Unidos when they were mistaken for members of an enemy gang.
After being shot, his remains were cremated and thrown into the Cocula dump, according to the same thesis, rejected by relatives, the López Obrador government and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
AMLO announced that he will continue to insist that Israel extradite Tomás Zerón, former head of the Criminal Investigation Agency, the highest-ranking official who is wanted in this case.
