More than a decade after 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college disappeared in the town of Iguala, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, the case continues to haunt the country’s justice system. The students, mostly young men training to become rural schoolteachers, were taken by local police and handed over to a criminal gang in September 2014 — an event that shocked Mexico and drew international attention to collusion between security forces and organized crime.
Twelve years on, families of the missing students say they are still waiting for concrete answers. Despite multiple official investigations, changes in government, and promises from successive administrations to uncover the full truth, only a handful of the young men’s remains have ever been positively identified. Parents and advocacy groups continue to demand access to military records and testimony they believe could finally explain the chain of command behind the disappearances.
The anniversary has once again become a moment of national reflection on impunity in Mexico, where thousands of people disappear each year, and on the limits of official truth commissions to deliver justice for victims’ families. For many, Ayotzinapa remains a symbol of everything that still needs to change.
To read the full story, visit the original article on La Jornada’s website.
Source: Ayotzinapa: una historia que 12 años después aún no termina (jornada.com.mx).
Image: Fibonacci Blue, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).