A former Mexican soldier linked to the forced disappearance of 43 students in the state of Guerrero 12 years ago was arrested near Los Angeles by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Wednesday.
In a Thursday social media post, ICE confirmed that Enrique Martínez Chávez was apprehended in Hawthorne, California, and will remain in U.S. custody until he is repatriated.
Martínez, 32, is one of 16 soldiers linked to the disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College in September 2014 in Iguala, Guerrero, for whom arrest warrants were issued in August 2022.
Eight of the 16 soldiers are being held in a military prison in connection with the Ayotzinapa case. Though they were arrested in June 2023 on charges of forced disappearance, they are still awaiting civilian criminal proceedings.
Prosecutors allege criminal responsibility on the part of the soldiers under the legal hypotheses of collusion and failing to respond.
Two of the four Army officers for whom warrants were issued were arrested and later released, highlighting a disturbing trend of military commanders accused of crimes being liberated by Mexico’s Judiciary.
General José Rodríguez Pérez, the highest-ranking military officer indicted for his alleged involvement in the mass disappearance, was released on bail in July 2024, though he still faces charges of organized crime and forceful disappearance.
The second-highest-ranking officer, Rafael Hernández Nieto — a colonel at the time of the disappearances but promoted to brigadier general upon retiring from active duty a few years later — was released on bail in August 2023 but also still faces charges.
Three months ago, a judge ordered the Defense Ministry to hand over all the information its intelligence agencies have gathered regarding the case.
The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed in 2023 by the families of the missing students who have long protested the military authorities’ refusal to fully cooperate in the investigation.
The 16 soldiers, members of the 27th Infantry Battalion stationed in Iguala, all face forced disappearance and organized crime charges.
The privates — Enrique Martínez among them — were under the command of Captain José Martínez Crespo, the first military officer arrested (in November 2020) in connection to the Ayotzinapa case.
Prosecutors have accused members of Captain Crespo’s patrol of intimidating students who sought refuge at the Cristina Hospital in Iguala after they were attacked by municipal police and members of the Guerreros Unidos crime gang.
Investigators are still seeking to clarify if the soldiers actively participated in the disappearance of the students by handing them over to the Guerreros Unidos.
A lawyer for the parents of the 43 said that, so far, they have not been officially notified of the former soldier’s arrest.
On Wednesday, family members of the missing said they will hold a series of demonstrations and activities in Mexico City from June 8-12, during the first week of the World Cup
The events of that night in September 2014 left six people dead, dozens injured and 43 students missing, now presumed dead.
With reports from Milenio, La Jornada, El País and Proceso
