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News > Latin America

Ayotzinapa Relatives Meet With Experts Before Final Report

  • Protesters hold a banner which reads Ayotzinapa in red to protest for the forced disappearance of 43 students

    Protesters hold a banner which reads Ayotzinapa in red to protest for the forced disappearance of 43 students | Photo: Reuters

Published 5 September 2015
Opinion

Relatives believe the report will shed more light into the whereabouts of their loved ones.

The group of experts appointed by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) to investigate the forced disappearance of 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa met with relatives of the students on Saturday, ahead of the experts' final report.

Through preliminary reports and declarations in the media, the group of experts have already highlighted several flaws in the investigations being carried by Mexican authorities.

Santiago Aguirre, the lawyer of the relatives, believes that the final report will provide proof that the government's investigation is useless and should be relaunched.

“They are (government) reports that would not stand public scrutiny. There is nothing here (that solves the case), not even the bodies,” he said in an interview on Friday.

RELATED: Justice For Ayotzinapa

In stark contrast to the official investigations, the independent experts have focused their probe in three different lines of research: the role of the army at the night of the disappearances, the role of Angel Aguirre – governor of Oaxaca – and the political elite of Iguala and neighboring municipalities.

After over six months of investigations the group will issue its report on Sunday, which promises to shed more light into the whereabouts of the 43 students.

The experts held interviews with survivors and witnesses, visits to the site of the disappearance, they reviewed the official investigations and evidence used in by the authorities, but were denied access by the Mexican government to military personnel who were present during the disappearances.

Proceso magazine, which has been following the case closely, will issue a special edition on Sunday that shows the depth of military involvement in the disappearances, coinciding with the experts’ report.

Earlier this month, the group pointed out several serious irregularities in the government's investigations, including the disappearance of CCTV footage of the night that the events took place or the failure to analyze phone calls made by students, their relatives, or police officers.

The government's investigation focused on the theory that the drug cartel Guerreros Unidos worked with corrupt local policemen to murder the students.

However, the relatives of the 43 students believe that their loved ones were abducted by the army and could still be alive held in military barracks.

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