The students were abducted from Ayotzinapa in the state of Guerrero, in collusion between police and cartels

~ Mateo Sgambati ~

Thousands marched in Mexico City Thursday (Sep. 26) to mark 10 years since the infamous night in Iguala, Guerrero, where 43 students disappeared. Just days before the end of the current Mexican government’s term, the mothers and fathers of the disappeared students have reiterated that their struggle is unwavering, and their demand remains the same: the return of the 43 students from the Escuela Normal Rural de Ayotzinapa (Ayotzinapa Rural Teacher’s College).

From the so-called of the inept government of Enrique Peña Nieto to the “progressive” administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), far from resolving the events, there have been, at different times, falsification of evidence, obstruction of judicial proceedings, omission of evidence pointing to a state crime, and fabricated conclusions based on discredited witnesses, all of which only contribute to the impunity in a country with over one hundred thousand disappeared people.

AMLO’s government has operated hand-in-hand with the military from its inception. From a podium in Palacio Nacional, the president addresses citizens and the media, setting the tone for public debates. This platform has allowed him to expose the lack of ideological foundation in the rightmost faction of the country — a group increasingly battered and desperate over its political decline.

However, this platform has also served as a conduit for the harassment of human rights organisations and members of the civil society who tirelessly seek justice in a country where it is easier to find a mass grave. Not only has there been no progress on human rights issues, but military institutions now control a good chunk of the public life, the same institutions that repeatedly violate the human rights of migrants and indigenous peoples.

Ten years ago, state personnel killed and disappeared young students in Iguala, in a night that sparked a decade of cover-ups spanning now two federal governments. At the start of AMLO’s administration in 2018, the Comisión para la Verdad y Acceso a la Justicia del Caso Ayotzinapa (Truth and Access to Justice Commission for the Ayotzinapa Case, CoVAJ) was established, under the mandate of then-Undersecretary of the Interior, Alejandro Encinas.

Not only did the commission fail to clarify anything, but the federal government has acted in clear collusion with the military, covering up and obstructing all investigations. Arrest warrants for military personnel are issued and revoked, institutions to investigate the case are created and dissolved, meetings with the families of the disappeared are postponed. The military has yet to hand over 800 documents related to the forced disappearance of the students.