Mexico: Families can enter army bases to search for missing students

Mexican authorities say the parents of 43 missing students can enter army bases to search for their sons, but say there is no evidence the army was involved in their disappearance. It follows sometimes violent demonstrations in which a group of parents and their supporters tried to use hijacked delivery trucks to ram open the gates of an army base. The students disappeared in the southern state of Guerrero on Sept. 26, and federal prosecutors say they were apparently killed and incinerated by a drug gang. The Attorney General’s Office announced that army bases “are open to all citizens, and entrance has to be made in an orderly manner and with respect for our institutions.”

After breaking down the gate with a soft drink delivery truck, they attacked military police by tossing fireworks, bottles and rocks and discharging fire extinguishers.

Tomas Zeron, the head of criminal investigations at the federal prosecutor’s office

Prosecutors say corrupt Iguala municipal police detained the 43 students after they came to Iguala to hijack buses. The police then allegedly turned the students over to a local drug gang with whom they had ties. The gang is said to have taken the students to a nearby town, killed them and incinerated their bodies. Only one student has been identified by testing of the badly burned remains.

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