#Mexican #President #Demands #Justice #Disappearance #Students
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday all soldiers and officials involved in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014 must be brought to justice to prevent the atrocities from repeating themselves.
His comments came a day after a truth commission investigating one of Mexico’s worst human rights tragedies said military personnel bore responsibility in the case, either directly or through negligence.
“The publication of this cruel, inhumane situation and at the same time punishing those responsible will help ensure that these unfortunate events will never be repeated” and “strengthen the institutions,” said Lopez Obrador.
The involvement of “bad officials” didn’t mean the entire institution was dysfunctional, he told reporters during a visit to the northwest border city of Tijuana.
“What weakens an institution is when it does not act in accordance with the truth and there is corruption and impunity,” he added.
On Thursday, the Truth Commission set up by Lopez Obrador branded the disappearance of the faculty as a “state crime” involving agents from various institutions.
“Their actions, omissions or participation made possible the disappearance and execution of the students and the murder of six others,” said the head of the commission, Deputy Interior Minister Alejandro Encinas.
Further investigations are needed to determine the extent of the involvement of members of the armed forces, he said.
The students had seized buses in the southern state of Guerrero to go to a demonstration in Mexico City before disappearing.
They were arrested by corrupt police and handed over to a drug cartel who mistook them for members of a rival gang, the commission said.
According to an official report presented in 2015 by the government of then-President Enrique Pena Nieto, they were shot dead by cartel members and their remains burned in a garbage dump.
This version of events, which did not attribute responsibility to the military, was rejected by both relatives and independent experts.
Lopez Obrador said in March that Navy officials were under investigation for alleged tampering with evidence, specifically at a dump where human remains were found, including those of the only three students identified so far.
He denied that the authorities were withholding important information about the case, which has been internationally condemned.
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#Mexican #President #Demands #Justice #Disappearance #Students
