It’s been more than three weeks since 43 Mexican college students mysteriously disappeared after their bus was raided by police. Ever since, their parents and supporters have been marching in the streets and demanding answers amid reports that the students may have been killed by officers after an altercation in the Mexican countryside on September 26.
So, where are they? Nobody knows, but the twisted tale is bizarre — with reports of mass graves, execution-style killings and alleged police collusion with drug cartels. And it’s all the more terrifying in a country that has seen more than its fair share of drug gang-fueled violence over the past decade.
Anadolu Agency
Tension Had Been Building
The students from the radical, all-male teacher training college Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers College of Ayotzinapa were headed to the town of Iguala last month to raise money for protests against what they said were discriminatory hiring practices of teachers that favor urban students over rural ones. While trying to hitchhike back to their college — known for its strident, leftist leanings — police claim the students hijacked three buses from a downtown bus terminal.
Municipal police trailing the bus convoy reportedly shot at the buses during the chase and when they stopped the vehicles, a number of students got out and walked away, but at least 20 were reportedly taken away in patrol cars. Three hours later, some of the students returned to the site of the attack and heard gunfire. The region is thought to be under the control of the Guerreros Unidos (Warriors United) drug cartel, which is alleged to have influence over the municipal police force and ties to the city’s mayor.
AFP/PEDRO PARDO
The battle with police that night left six people dead and at least 25 injured, some of the wounded and killed were not connected to the students.
Tension has been building for a year between the college’s students and the town’s mayor after students commandeered and vandalized Iguala’s city hall in June 2013 and accused the mayor of being involved in the murder of a prominent leftist political activist Arturo Hernández.
A Whodunnit With Nearly 50 Persons of Interest
So far, investigators have detained almost 50 people on murder and forced disappearance charges in connection with the incident, including 36 police officers from Iguala and a nearby town. Arrest warrants were also issued for Mayor José Luis Abarca and his public security chief, who went missing following a summons for questioning from state prosecutors.
Anadolu Agency
Will Mass Graves Lead To Missing Students?
A mass grave with 28 bodies was found just days after the shoot-out in a mountainous region near Iguala, with DNA tests determining that they were not the missing students, who are all male. Complicating matters, a newly detained suspect led authorities to four more secret grave sites this week, whose contents were not known at press time.
Investigators were led to the mass grave last week by an Iguala police officer who confessed to involvement in the killing of 17 of the students. Authorities believe the bodies recovered so far were victims of drug gang violence, but with a total of eight grave sites uncovered so far it could be weeks before all the victims are identified.
Benjamin Mondragon Pereda, leader of the Unidos cartel and the man suspected of ordering the student’s murders, killed himself on Tuesday after being surrounded by police during a gun battle.
A Twist In The Case
Schoolmates, social groups and relatives of the students don’t actually believe they’re dead, and thousands marched in the capital of Guerrero state, Chilpancingo, and in Mexico City last Wednesday to protest the disappearances. On Wednesday, they announced plans for a week of protests aimed at putting pressure on authorities to solve the case, including a coordinated plan to seize city halls in all 82 municipalities of Guerrero starting Thursday (October 16).
LightRocket/Pacific Press
In addition, riot police were sent to the city of Chilpancingo this week after protesters burned part of the Guerrero state headquarters in protest over the unsolved case.
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