The IACHR is concerned about the displacement of the special unit for the case of the 43

Jessica Xanthomilla

Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, September 27, 2022, p. 6

On the eighth anniversary of the forced disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urged the Mexican State to guarantee the independence and integrity of the investigation.

In particular, it stressed that given the lack of clarification of what happened and to continue the progress achieved so far, the Mexican State must guarantee the independence of the Special Investigation and Litigation Unit for the Ayotzinapa Case, the body responsible for the investigation and that, say the families of the victims and their legal representatives, was displaced from ministerial work.

Likewise, he requested that the frequency of the meetings of the Truth and Access to Justice Commission with the families be restored, and that the channels of communication with the special unit and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts be improved.

In a pronouncement, the IACHR also appreciated that the State has been deploying unprecedented efforts to maintain the continuous search for students in different locations in the state of Guerrero and to promote the right of families to participate in said proceedings. However, eight years after the forced disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa, their whereabouts remain unknown..

Regarding the special unit, he indicated that he had received worrying information that this unit would be subject to displacement in his ministerial functions in the present case Y on the judicialization of investigation folders related to the facts of the case by other units of the FGR unrelated to the investigation and their evidence, even though this unit is the legally competent body for it.

Furthermore, he continued, it became known about some requests for withdrawal of a series of arrest warrants against military agents and ministerial and administrative authorities of the state of Guerrero, by agents outside the special unit. Also, as of August 2022, this unit would not have investigative police personnel..

For its part, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights asserted that eight years after the disappearance of the young It is urgent to break the structural obstacles that persist in the FGR and in the Army to discover the truth of what happened and achieve justice..