Authorities have identified 17 new suspects in connection with the disappearance of dozens of Mexican students from a rural university. The students vanished 12 years ago, allegedly at the hands of drug traffickers and police. On Saturday, thousands gathered in Mexico City for an annual march demanding justice for the 43 young men who aimed to become rural teachers in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero. This state has been severely affected by violence.
On September 26, 2014, the students were intercepted in Iguala while traveling to a protest in Mexico City. Investigations suggest that police handed them over to a local cartel. In 2024, a suspected leader of the Guerreros Unidos cartel faced arrest related to the case. Despite numerous arrests, no convictions have been secured in this traumatic incident for Mexico. Only three bodies have been recovered so far.
Mauricio Pazaran, the special prosecutor handling the case, reported that recent phone call analyses from the night of the disappearance resulted in the new arrests. These analyses revealed communications between public officials, police, organized crime affiliates, and civilians. Investigators discovered an illegally obtained weapon, a bone and unregistered bone fragments, and teeth at a funeral home. Notably, a public employee and a municipal police officer had used the cellphones of two missing students days after their disappearance. One new witness, a minor during the events, was directly involved and is now part of the Guerreros Unidos cartel.
Currently, 168 individuals face prosecution in the case; 130 are in pretrial detention. On the ninth anniversary of their disappearance, relatives and supporters of the missing Ayotzinapa students marched with banners showing their portraits and names in Mexico City.
In August, a former governor was arrested for allegedly ordering the deletion of security footage in Iguala. Last year, authorities arrested a former senior judge for allegedly concealing videos of the incidents. Additionally, the state’s former attorney general was arrested in 2022. The investigation has managed to identify burned bone fragments of only a few missing students, focusing efforts on locating clandestine burial sites in remote areas of cartel activity.
Mexico remains severely impacted by cartel violence, with over half a million people killed or missing in the past few decades, according to estimates from the government.