Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reaffirmed her commitment to the Ayotzinapa case in the search for truth and justice, highlighting the progress of investigations based on scientific analysis, telephone records and video recordings, which led to 30 arrests.
“The case will not be closed until the truth is discovered, justice is served and the whereabouts of the young people are found; this is our commitment to the mothers, fathers and people of Mexico”, declared the president during her morning press conference, detailing the progress of the investigations.
Sheinbaum explained that the coordinated work with the Public Ministry allowed a more in-depth investigation of elements that had not been thoroughly investigated before, going beyond the exclusive dependence on testimonies from witnesses or alleged criminals.
Arturo Félix Medina Padilla, Undersecretary of Human Rights, explained relevant data from the report presented on the Ayotzinapa case and detailed that more people potentially involved were identified thanks to the in-depth analysis of telephone records from the night the young people disappeared.
The reanalysis of calls made it possible to detect contacts between members of organized crime and the owner of a funeral home that had a Legal Medical Service (Semefo) concession.
The investigation led to the seizure of property belonging to the owner, in which death certificates with signatures and blank pages were confiscated. It was confirmed that the individuals arrested for involvement in the crime had contacted these establishments and a doctor that night, and that human remains were found at the scene without official record.
Cell phone tracking and the Barandilla command
Another fundamental aspect of the research focuses on tracking the cell phones of missing students, through the analysis of identification numbers and the exchange of SIM cards. This allowed investigators to identify two crucial leads: a person currently in prison who used one of the devices after the disappearance, and the discovery of one of the victims’ cell phones in court.
This last element corroborates the hypothesis that at least one group of students from the Escola Normal Rural de Ayotzinapa was present in that municipal court, a version previously denied. In response, the federal government is pushing for the extradition of the chief judge of the local police station, who sought refuge in the United States and whose previous statements were used to deny the students’ presence.
Video investigations and important arrests
The new investigations also made it possible to uncover the concealment of security recordings from the Iguala Court, where one of the students’ buses arrived on the night of the events.
Considering the initial version that the cameras were not working, authorities questioned the whereabouts of said recordings, which led to the arrest of the then president of the Superior Court of Justice of Guerrero, Lambertina Galeana, and another person for their involvement in covering up evidence.
In this context, Sheinbaum highlighted the arrest of Ángel Aguirre Rivero (former governor of Guerrero), who is being prosecuted for allegedly ordering the concealment of evidence, as well as the capture of an individual who was a minor in 2014 and belonged to a criminal group. The strategy is complemented by the continuous review of processes with the support of the National Intelligence Center.
All of these investigations and new lines of investigation are being developed as a result of the events that occurred on the night of September 26, 2014, when one hundred students from the Escola Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos de Ayotzinapa were traveling in five buses to Mexico City to participate in a demonstration, at which time the convoy was attacked by five municipal patrols in Iguala, Guerrero.
Two students and four passers-by died in the incident, while 43 young people were arrested and handed over to the criminal group Guerreros Unidos. The Attorney General’s Office also maintains the hypothesis that the fifth bus was transporting a shipment of heroin bound for Chicago, in the United States.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
