More than a decade after the abduction and presumed murder of 43 Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College students in Guerrero, a new investigative unit has been assembled to review the still unresolved case.
Vidulfo Rosales, lawyer for the families of the 43 missing students, announced the new investigative unit Friday after he attended a meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum and the family members at the National Palace. Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Undersecretary of Population, Human Rights and Migration Arturo Medina and head of the specialized Unit for the Ayotzinapa Case of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) Rosendo Gómez Piedra also attended the meeting.
The new investigation unit will be led by the FGR and the Security and Citizen Protection Ministry. The Commission for Truth and Access to Justice in the Ayotzinapa Case (COVAJ), established under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will continue to operate as well.
On Jan. 17, Sheinbaum had told reporters that a “new team” would review the case. During the updated announcement on Friday, Rosales expressed guarded optimism about future results.
“I think we’re moving forward,” he said. “The progress is obviously not what we would like, but there is progress.”
While specific details of the operation are not being shared, the new investigation team will use advanced technology, including cell phone analysis.
“The President said — and we agree on this point — that one cannot depend on witnesses … because witnesses are often weak, manipulable or changeable in a statement,” Rosales said. “Conversely, scientific evidence is more honest, and I believe that this new investigation team wants to reach that point.”
Rosales stressed what he said was the lack of access to important military documents.
“This team that has been formed will continue working on the issue of military archives that the Mexican Army has not delivered,” he said.
However, Sheinbaum has maintained that the army has already provided all the information it has, according to Rosales.
A new arrest
This review of the case follows a recent arrest in the municipality of Iztapalapa in Mexico City.
Authorities detained Martín Alejandro “N,” known as “El Kamala,” who is alleged to have been involved in the students’ disappearance, following coordinated investigations between several security agencies.
“El Kamala” is accused of organized crime and forced disappearance. He was arrested previously and then released in 2018. There are reportedly statements in the case file in which “El Kamala” admits to being responsible for shooting the students, on orders from “Choky.”
The new team may also revisit several other individuals related to the case.
In 2016, the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) accused Tomás Zerón de Lucio, the former director of the defunct Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC), of violating the investigation process.
Mexican authorities have accused Zerón of abduction, torture and tampering with evidence. Zerón has taken refuge in Israel, which currently refuses to extradite him. Rosales suggested the possibility of going to international courts to get the former official to testify.
During Friday’s meeting, Sheinbaum did not rule out calling former President Enrique Peña Nieto to testify in the Ayotzinapa case if evidence deems it necessary, according to Rosales.
With reports from Animal Politico, Infobae, The New York Times and Aristegui Noticias
